Adventures of the Tainted
by Jillie062
Summary: OFFICIALLY DISCONTINUED See Innocence Lost, the rewrite
1. Returning to the Digiworld

Author's Note: The outside summary kinda sucked, so here's one that is marginally better. The digidestined have once again been called to the Digital World. Old enemies, as well as some new ones, have teamed up to defeat the digidestined and take over the Digiworld. But they have personal demons to deal with, too. Hatred, jealousy, lust, desire, fear, and bitterness have tainted the protectors of the Digital World.

I had a few grammatical errors that I went back and fixed - same chapter, hopefully error free.

Ages:

Kari, Ken, Davis, Tk, Yolie: 19

Matt, Tai, Sora, Mimi, Izzy: 21

Cody: 17

Joe: 24

**The Adventures of the Tainted**

**Chapter One: Returning to the Digital World**

(0)

The tension in the room was evident. Brown eyes glared at ocean blue ones. Blue ones returned the icy stare. The brown eyed brunette was sitting at the kitchen table, his arm swung comfortably over the back of the chair and his feet up on the chair diagonally across the table.

The attractive blonde across from him was slouching in his chair. His knee was pulled up so that his foot was flat against the seat. His forearm rested on the raised knee.

The blonde blinked.

"Ha! I win again!" the brunette shouted, shifting so that his feet were on the floor. "Drink up!"

"Come on, Tai! That was just a practice!"

Tai nudged the bottle that was in the center of the table towards his friend. "Since when? You drank the last four times you lost."

"That was before I started getting a headache," he explained. Tai wasn't convinced. The blonde sighed and snatched up the bottle, taking a healthy swig of the strong alcohol. His face tightened as he forced the burning liquid down his throat, his eyes watering as he did so.

"Honestly Matt, you need to work on your alcohol tolerance," Tai said while Matt recovered.

"Shut up, Tai," Matt retorted.

A loud whooing sound was made in one of the bedrooms. "Is Tk here? I thought he was going to go to the movies with Davis."

"He was, but he looked up the movie online; it's basically about hookers and people's head's getting blown off, so he bailed out."

"Oh," Tai commented, nodding his head in understanding. "We should see it."

Tk ran into the kitchen, a bright smile illuminating his face. "Oh hey guys," he said, not really looking at either of them.

"Care to join us, Teeks?" Tai asked, gesturing towards the bottle.

"No he wouldn't," Matt said as he grabbed the cap and screwed it back onto the bottle. "This stuff could kill him."

Tai reached his arm across the table, flexing and bending his fingers like a child would do when he wants something. Matt sighed and passed the liquor across the table. Tai grabbed it greedily, unscrewed the cap, and took a big enough gulp to make Matt cringe. "Honestly Taichi, you have the maturity of a twelve-year-old."

Tai stuck his tongue out. "Whoa," he said, looking over at Tk. "Have you been smoking something Teeks? You're smiling like an idiot."

Tk's smile involuntarily widened. "No, this is way better," he said.

"Well, don't keep us in suspense, Tk, spit it out." Matt sprung up with fake enthusiasm.

"I just checked my mail and Kari sent me something."

"Ugh, is that all? I get e-mails all the time; I thought it was something important. Jeez!"

"I wasn't finished, Tai. It's what she wrote that's important. She broke up with what's-his-face!"

"Really? Thank God, I didn't like what's-his-name at all."

"Did she mention why?" Matt asked casually.

"As a matter of fact, she did. The creep wanted her to move in with him!" Tk pulled at his sleeves, something he always did when he was annoyed.

"Didn't she only start dating him like two months ago?"

"A month and a half, actually," Tk corrected.

"Teeks, you're pathetic. You do realize that?" Tai shot the younger blonde a playful grin.

"Would you stop calling me Teeks!"

"Not so long as it annoys you!"

"Well, if I'm pathetic, than you are too. Shouldn't you be with Sora right now, instead of hanging out here with Matt? You know, the girl you've been obsessed about for ten years?"

"First off, the girl I like is my girlfriend; second, you've liked Kari for what? Eight years? And you've never said anything? Hmm… at least I've told Sora. But, uh, yeah, Sora's mad at me, again."

"What did you do this time?" Matt asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine. It seems like she's always mad at me for one reason or another. Maybe if someone could talk to her, maybe ask her why she's mad…?" Tai looked from Matt to Tk.

Matt shook his head. "I'm staying out of this one," he replied.

Tai looked at Tk with pleading eyes. "No way! Not a chance."

"You know what, I just thought of something. Matt, do you remember the guy who plays center when I'm not on the field?" Matt nodded. "He was asking me if I'd hook him up with Kari. Since she's single now, it would be a perfect opportunity." He looked smugly at Tk.

Tk pulled at his sleeve. "Bull shit! You never approve of Kari's boyfriends. You would never hook her up with someone; especially not someone with his reputation."

"He did approve of Ken," Matt mused.

"Kindly refrain from mentioning that name in my presence!" Tai growled.

"In Ken's somewhat undeserving defense, Sora and you were 'taking a break' and _she_ kissed _him_. Ken just did what most guys would do when an attractive girl starts kissing him." Matt stifled a laugh. "What? You wouldn't?" Tk asked his brother.

"If I had a girlfriend like Kari, I wouldn't be stupid enough to let some other girl kiss me. And I definitely wouldn't let some other girl kiss me while my girlfriend was in the other room. Ken's lucky that Kari forgave him."

It was Tai's turn to laugh. "If you had a girlfriend at all! God man, when's the last time you've had a girlfriend?"

"I go on plenty of dates!"

"You go out with a girl once and then you never speak to her again! It's your attitude that's the problem."

"What's wrong with my attitude?" Matt questioned.

"Well, first it was 'I'm a badass so everyone leave me the hell alone,' then it was 'I'm an oober cool rock star and I'm awesome,' then it was 'I'm an oober cool rock star but I'm really a badass that can't be bothered with people so leave me the hell alone'."

"Don't ever use the word oober in front of me again." Matt warned.

"Oober, oober, oober!" he taunted back at the blonde.

"I really want to know," Tk chimed in, "when was the last time you had a serious girlfriend?"

"I don't know, I think Sora was the last girl I actually dated." Matt shuttered.

Tk laughed. "I remember how pissed Tai was at you! He was freaking ready to hire a hit man!"

Tai glared at the both of them. "Well excuse me for knowing that Sora and I are meant to be."

"Shut up, Tai," Tk said, his voice very serious.

"What's your problem?" Tai hissed.

"Seriously, Taichi, shut up a minute."

"I think your brother has finally lost it," Tai whispered to Matt.

Tk set himself in a defensive stance. "There's something here," he mumbled.

"Are your spidey-senses tingling?" Matt piped up.

"What the…?" Tai coughed as dust particles fell on him. He looked up at the ceiling. The ceiling around the hanging lamp was breaking apart. "Do you think our landlord will pay for this?"

The ground began to shake. Matt and Tai both jumped out of their chairs. A thin crack sprouted up the wall. The lights flashed on and off. "I can't see it, but I definitely _feel_ something," said Tk.

A clashing sound, like a lamp being knocked to the ground, was heard from the other room. Three objects came speeding through the air. One hit Matt in the chest; one struck Tk in the back of the head before falling to his heels; and the third got stuck in Tai's hair.

"My digivice?" Tai said as he pulled the electronic device out of his unruly hair.

"Mine too," the older blonde said, his hand covering where he had been hit.

Tk stood there rubbing the back of his head. "That freaking hurt!" The shaking of the floor intensified and the entire wall broke where the crack had formed. Bits and pieces of the ceiling caved in. Tk bent down and picked up his D3. Darkness seemed to fill the surroundings, closing the young men in.

A light flashed from the three devices. A blinding flash filled the room, and then, there was no one.

(0)

The Silver knob was pushed in, halting the flow of the scorching hot water. A tall and slender young woman stepped out of the shower and onto the bathroom tiles. Mimi wrapped a towel around her newly dyed hair. She had recently switched back to pink after spending a short while as a blonde. She dried off her silky skin and tied a second towel around her body.

Mimi opened the bathroom door and steam escaped into the hallway. Cool air rushed at Mimi, which was a welcome experience. She walked into the bed room and took off the towel that was wrapped around her hair. She threw it on top of her laundry pile before taking a seat in front of her vanity.

A hairbrush, black eyeliner, some pink eye shadow, a variety of fruity lip glosses, and several other miscellaneous items were neatly set up on top of the vanity. Mimi picked up the brush and combed the snarls out of her hair. Setting the brush back down a minute later, Mimi stood up. She walked over to her closet, which had mirror doors, to check herself over. The towel dropped to the ground and Mimi looked over her body with a critical eye. She placed her hand over her flat stomach. "Maybe Hika will be willing to sign up for that yoga class with me again. I don't want to lose my figure and the instructor was awfully cute."

After making a mental note to speak with her best friend about resuming their yoga class, Mimi was satisfied that she looked alright. She searched through her drawers for a pair of pajamas and settled on a pink tank-top with pink pants that had red and purple hearts on them. "I totally wasted my Friday night," she said, seeing that she was ready for bed at nine.

Mimi noticed that the mirror doors on her closet were slightly foggy. She went over and wiped her hand along the door. The water condensing on the mirrors felt slimy and gooey. "Eww!" Mimi shrieked, wiping her hand on her pants. Suddenly, the light flickered on and off several times. Mimi screamed as a box pulled itself out from underneath her bed. The top flew off and the contents jumped into the air and landed at her feet.

Her old digivice had flown out of the box. Mimi bent down to pick it up, but the ground began to shake and she lost her balance. The unsteady girl threw her hands out to keep from landing on her face. The carpet was damp from the same watery substance that was on her mirror.

The vibrations became more violent. Mimi grabbed onto her digivice as the lights shut off completely. The digivice produced its own glow, absorbing Mimi into the radiating light. She disappeared into it.

(0)

"No way man, the best part was definitely the scene where that girl got her head blown off!"

"You only liked it because she was a prostitute and walking around in nothing but a silk thong!"

"Well, no duh! It's the only part that made the movie worth paying seven bucks to see."

Ken stared blankly at his friend. "You're deluded, Davis; you know that, don't you?"

Davis scoffed at him. "I'm not deluded, I'm honest. Don't tell me that you didn't think that that was the only worthwhile part of the movie."

Ken stuck his hands in his pants pockets. "It's getting colder out. We should walk a little faster," he said, changing the topic.

Davis slowed down his pace and shot his friend a mischievous smile. "No way, not until you admit that that scene was freaking hot!"

The sound of footsteps hitting the ground at an obnoxiously slow speed was the only noise for a moment. "Fine," Ken said with a sigh, "the prostitute scene was the only good part in that entire obscenely distasteful movie. Happy?"

"As a matter of fact… huh?" Davis jumped and placed his hand over his back pocket. He pulled his D3 out and stared at it intently.

"You brought your D3 with you?" Ken inquired.

Davis nodded. "I had a strange feeling and thought it was a good idea to bring it," he explained.

Ken reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out his D3. "I kinda felt the same way," he admitted.

The two teens looked from each other to their D3s and back again. The lamp post above them flickered. Ken felt an eerie sensation chill his body. He turned his head to where he felt the source of discomfort was coming from. "Shit," he whispered, his eyes wide and heartbeat steadily increasing.

"What is it?" Davis asked, trying to see what was freaking his friend out. "What are you looking at?"

Ken extended his arm and pointed down the alleyway. "Those are what I'm looking at."

"I don't see anything."

Ken's eyes visibly dilated. He grabbed Davis' arm and pulled him down the road. "Then trust me when I say it isn't something you want to see!" The bulb of the flickering lamp light they had been under exploded. All of them began to explode as Davis and Ken ran under them. They covered their heads in an attempt to protect themselves from flying shards of glass.

"How the hell did they get here?" Ken mumbled to himself, dodging another attack of shards.

"Who!" Davis cried in frustration. "What do you see?"

Ken looked back to confirm his fears. The digimon, at least he believed them to be digimon, that dwelled in the Dark Ocean were chasing after them and cutting the distance between them at an unnerving rate. They had no true forms, their bodies' mere outlines that surrounded a black and swirling appearance. (A/n think back to "His Master's Voice" when Kari was sent to the dark ocean. Not the Scubamon, what the Scubamon turned into after Kari freed them and led them out of the cave.)

A black arm shot out of the ground inches in front of Ken and Davis and tripped the two teens. Davis fell flat on his face while Ken twisted his body so that he landed on his back. Both boys sat up. Davis looked over at Ken and saw an expression he had never seen taint Ken's features; a look of pure terror.

The creatures were nearly at them now, and the one whose arm had shot up through the pavement had somehow pulled himself through the sidewalk and was looming over them. Davis was more confused than anything else, but Ken's actions were making his body shutter. He didn't know what Ken was seeing, but it couldn't be good. Ken did not scare easily.

The forgotten D3's began pulsating. They lit up, making both boys cover their eyes. The light overtook their bodies, and they too disappeared.

(0)

Her sleeping form spread out over the entire bed. Sheets were wrapped up around her legs, the pillow was on her head, instead of under it, and one arm hung carelessly over the side. She awoke, desiring something to quench the parched feeling in her throat. There was a water bottle somewhere, and she felt around for it. "It must have fallen under the bed again."

She pulled the pillow off of her head, exposing a mess of long, lavender hair. She had two options, walk all the way to the kitchen and get a drink of water, or roll under the bed and get it. Yolie rolled her body off the bed, landing with a thud. She made a mental note to actually get up and out of bed the next time she needed to.

Standing up and putting the sheets that had come off with her back onto the bed, Yolie yawned and stretched her arms out. She turned on the lamp by her bed.

A loud noise from inside her closet startled the girl into waking up completely. Something inside her closet began knocking itself into the door, trying to open it. Yolie walked to the center of the room. She remembered that in every horror movie she had ever seen, the idiotic, big breasted girl always went towards a creepy and unidentifiable noise, instead of away from it. Then the girl was brutally murdered.

Something grabbed Yolie's arm and wrenched it backwards. She cried out in pain but found nothing holding her arm behind her back. The banging sound got even louder, making the door shake violently.

The lights went out, leaving only a glow from the creases in the closet. The light shining through reminded Yolie of Hikari. Drawn to it, as she was to her friend's light, Yolie fought to get closer to it.

The closet door pushed to the side, releasing the glowing object. It flew at Yolie, and her arm was freed. She caught the D3 before it hit her and was absorbed into the light.

(0)

The constant clicking of the letters being pressed down on the keyboard by skilled fingers was the only sound filling his ears. He was typing furiously, working by the light of the laptop screen.

_You have mail._

The spiky redhead excitedly clicked on the icon that had changed from blue to yellow when the e-mail reached his inbox. "Someone read my fan fic!" he cheered. "Hey KingKnowledge, I read the first installment of your fanfic, but I couldn't bring myself to proceed onto the second. The idea is original and creative, but I only understood like three words. Edit it so that normal people can understand it and I'll read installment two." The computer whiz sighed at the disheartening review. "I understood it perfectly," he mumbled.

He went back to wasting his time in a chat room. "My name is Izzy," he said as he typed. "I'm tall, muscular, and I play basketball." He stopped typing. "I'm so pathetic." The backspace button was pressed repeatedly. Izzy was feeling pretty bummed after wasting another Friday night in a chat room.

_You have mail._

"Again?" Hoping for another review, maybe a positive one, Izzy opened his mailbox again. He opened the e-mail, not recognizing the address. The e-mail was blank. Disappointed, he went to close the window, but the screen was frozen.

"What the…?" Words began appearing in the message box.

_Beware…the darkness…is coming…for you…Izzy._

Izzy jumped back, knocking the seat over. The laptop screen went black. Izzy had his digivice set up on a small pedestal on his desk. It went at him, hitting his arm before he could react. "This is impossible!"

Izzy found himself standing in darkness. Something pushed against him, forcing him to smash into the desk. Instinctively, Izzy grabbed his beloved pineapple laptop. Fumbling in the darkness, the digivice went unnoticed. It began to glow, attracting the redhead's attention.

Izzy fell on his hands and knees, reaching towards the white device with his free hand. The light it emitted pushed back the surrounding darkness. It over took the young genius and he too, disappeared.

(0)

Another day of high school had tired him out completely. He was irritable and annoyed and sappy soap operas on TV weren't helping. He looked over at the phone resting on the coffee table, willing it to ring. But it didn't.

He could have gone out that night, called Yolie or someone, but he had rather stay and wait for the phone to call.

"Argh!" he shouted, letting his frustration out in the form of an aggravated scream. The bowl of popcorn that had been resting on his stomach was set down; the television was violently shut off.

"Come on, Cody, you really didn't expect him to call." Expect? No. But the boy could hope. Cody sprawled himself out on the couch. He wasn't angry, just disappointed. His disappointment, however, came out more aggressively than other people's.

Some people thought that he had an anger problem. Years of being tormented had hardened him; especially in the last year. Now that most of his friends were in college, the awkward boy was a prime target for the jocks. No one had messed with him the year before in fear of getting on Kari's bad side. No one wanted to be on her bad side. The upperclassmen who hadn't known that she had moved to New York were nice to him still so they could ask about her.

Cody looked at the phone again. Nothing. "He's probably out with someone fun and exciting," he wallowed. He needed to stop caring, it wasn't like he had told Cody that he would call.

A cool breeze made Cody shiver. He stood from his comfortable position on the couch and headed towards his room. Ms. Hida was gone for the weekend, staying at her boyfriend's place.

Cody pulled his tan colored sleeve up to his shoulder and opened up his shirt drawer. Searching through the drawer until he found the box cutter, Cody's heartbeat sped up.

He sat down on the bed and put the blade against his skin, just above the elbow, where countless scars decorated his flesh. Cody winced as the blade cut through his skin. Not too deep, just enough to draw blood.

People always said that cutting was a dangerous habit to get into, but Cody loved it. It was pain he could control, there were scars that left a physical mark. He didn't have to think about anything else.

Cody felt the blade going deeper than the pressure he applied would allot. Something wasn't right. He couldn't pull the blade away. It felt like someone had his hand over Cody's, forcing the blade down.

Blood dripped from the wound onto the bed comforter. Cody panicked; he screamed and pulled at his arm.

The bed began to shake. The chill he had felt in the living room now invaded the bedroom. Shadows came out from the corners and approached him. The kendo sticks leaning against the wall in the corner fell to the ground. Cody's D3 shot out from the rubble and landed on the blood stained sheets.

Without a second thought, Cody used the hand dripping with blood to pick up the D3. The pressure on his other hand ceased to push down. Cody threw the blade against the opposite wall.

From his hand came a blinding light. Cody blinked repeatedly as his surrounding vanished around him.

(0)

Her moans were muffled by his lips pressed against hers. His lips moved down to her neck, gently sucking on the skin, though not hard enough to break any blood vessels and leave a hickey mark. His hips beat rhythmically against hers.

"Oh, God, that's it! Don't stop! Ooh!" she screamed. Her partner's face was frozen in an expression of pleasure as he too climaxed.

His body collapsed next to hers, both were panting heavily. She cuddled against him, kissing his tanned skin. "I'd better get going," she whispered.

"Already?"

"Yeah." She pulled on her shirt.

He sat up and began kissing her neck again. His hand made its way up her thigh. "Stay awhile."

"I can't."

He shook his head. "You're going home to check your messages."

"What? No, I mean, yes I'll check them when I get home, but I'm not going home to check them." She hopped out of bed and finished dressing.

"Bullshit, Sor. You want to see if Tai called to apologize." Sora said nothing. "I was right."

"What's your problem, Mark?" she asked, taking a seat next to him.

"Nothing."

"Now who's the bullshiter?"

"It's just that things never change. You get mad at Tai; come over here to achieve some sexual gratification because Tai is in trouble; Tai apologizes; you wait until Tai apologizes again; then you call me the next time he pisses you off."

"What's your point?"

Mark sighed, his brown eyes glinting with disappointment. "It's just getting old."

"It never bothered you before." She snuggled up close to him but he backed off, grabbing his boxers from the edge of the bed.

"Yeah, well, it does now. I'm tired of being your plaything you pick up when you're pissed at your boyfriend."

"I should think you'd like it, sex without commitment. Are you saying that you'd rather we stop doing this?"

Mark stayed silent. He knew that he wouldn't break off their relationship. She knew that he wouldn't break off their relationship. He knew that she knew that he wouldn't break off their relationship.

"I'll call you" she said, flinging her bangs to the side.

"Whatever…" Mark responded, halfheartedly.

Sora left her lover's apartment without saying another word to him. She walked quickly down the darkened streets, her thoughts focused mainly on Taichi. She honestly couldn't remember why she was mad at Tai this time. She loved him, or rather; she had _learned_ to love him.

Sora's first love had been Yamato. She remembered when he had asked her out. The new digidestined were doing the whole save the world thing, and were taking a break to go to Matt's first real gig. Matt was sixteen and looked gorgeous up on the stage. He had asked her to meet him after the show, but evil digimon had gotten in the way. It wasn't until everything was straightened out that they became a couple.

They dated for about three months, until Matt confessed that he was in love with someone else. That was okay; Sora could deal with that. Matt would ask her out, she'd turn him down, and then Sora would be there to comfort him and Matt would see that he really did love her.

But Matt never did ask her out. He just admired her from afar. As far as Sora knew, Matt was still in love with that scank-whore.

After Matt had broken up with Sora, Tai followed her around like a puppy dog trying to comfort her. She fantasized about Matt coming to his senses and challenging Tai to a fight for her. She loved Tai; she just still loved Matt more.

Sora entered her apartment quickly, trying to escape the cold. The answering machine played no knew messages. "Stupid Tai," she growled.

Sora looked very much like she had when she was sixteen. Same hairstyle, same height, only now, instead of the modest school uniform, she frequently wore _very_ short skirts and revealing tops. It got her all the attention she wanted.

Her thoughts drifted back to Tai. She needed to remember why she was angry at him before he called. If he called. "Of course he'll call" she assured herself. "He's probably talking to Matt about me right now."

She knew that she should leave Tai. It was unfair to him that she was in love with his best friend. But there was no guarantee that she would ever end up with Matt and Tai was too amazing in bed to just throw away without someone else to go to. There was Mark, but their relationship was strictly about sex.

A scratching sound brought Sora out of her musings. She looked around but found nothing that would have caused the noise. Shrugging it off, Sora collapsed on the couch. She stared aimlessly at the ceiling until she noticed strange shadows moving about.

Alarmed, Sora sat up; only she couldn't see anything other than the couch. The room was veiled in darkness. She brought her knees to her chest and closed her eyes tightly.

Then something smacked her in the forehead. Rubbing her forehead and cursing loudly, Sora was distracted from her fear. She picked up the digivice that lay on the worn out couch.

It began vibrating in her hand. Glowing brightly, Sora was drawn into the light and the light died down, leaving no one in the room.

(0)

He stuffed his hands in his coat pockets to protect them from the cold. He stood on the doorstep with a sheepish smile on his face when the door opened. "You forgot your keys again, didn't you?" the woman at the door asked.

"Uh, yeah, I may have."

"What am I going to do with you, Joe?"

The man stepped through the door. "I have a suggestion, Meg," he said, pulling Megan into a kiss.

Megan ran her fingers through Joe's blue hair. "Remind me where we were when I get back."

"Where are you going?" the blue haired man inquired.

"I have to run down to the store and get some milk."

"Why didn't you just call me? I could have gotten it on my way home."

"Because you worked a triple shift today. And you forgot your cell phone. It's on the kitchen counter, by your keys." Megan gave her boyfriend a quick kiss before heading out the door.

Joe yawned and shook the hair away from his eyes. He needed a trim; the shortest layer always fell behind his glasses and got in his eyes. But working double and triple shifts at the hospital didn't leave enough time for such trivial things as haircuts.

Joe had graduated from medical school the previous June and started working by August. Being as ambitious as he was as a young teenage, Joe took every opportunity to work at the hospital and get some hands on training. Blood was still an issue that he was working on, but he no longer got sick from the sight of it.

Another yawn reminded Joe exactly how tired he was. He let his jacket drop to the floor and walked to the bedroom.

The door slammed shut behind him, causing the young doctor to jump. Joe went to pull the door open but it didn't budge. Too tired to care very much, Joe ignored it. Megan could fix it when she got home.

He unbuttoned his shirt as he headed towards the bathroom to take a shower. The door slammed closed just before Joe reached it. He pulled at the door, but, like the other, it wouldn't open. Joe looked back towards the door that led out of the room. He couldn't see it because of the shadows. Half the room was lit half was pitch black, slowly advancing towards the young man. "I'm more tired than I thought," he murmured, unwilling to believe that the scene was a rational one.

Something struck Joe from behind. It felt like a fist had punched him in the small of his back. Joe fell forward, onto his stomach. The darkness had spread across three-fourths of the room, creeping across his outstretched fingers.

Joe's digivice was placed on a shelf that was nailed to the wall. It fell to the ground and slid towards him. It was the only thing visible through the darkness. Joe grabbed it as it reached his outstretched palms. It began glowing and swallowed Joe completely.

(0)

"Thanks for walking me home," she said, jingling her keys in her hands. She placed the key in the lock before turning back to her companion.

"Anytime," he returned, leaning in to kiss her. She turned her cheek to him. He laughed shortly. "Uh, right, sorry Hika."

She smiled apologetically at him before opening the door. "'Night, Kyle," she said with a wave.

"'Night," he recited, though she had already entered the hall of the apartment and shut the door.

Kari sighed as she watched him turn and leave sullenly. It was suddenly very clear to her why most people didn't stay friends with their ex's. They for some reason thought that they still had boyfriend rights. Kyle was a nice guy, but definitely not her type.

The walk up the stairs was quick, seeing as her apartment was on the second floor: 32B. It was decent sized, furnished with cheap but attractive furniture; an empty fridge and sometimes poor lighting conditions were the only complaints she could make.

Kari hung up her jacket and took off her shoes. Moving at a leisurely pace, she headed for her answering machine. The light indicating that there was a new message was flashing persistently.

"_Hey Hika, it's Meems, of course. I'm just calling to tell you to keep your schedule free for next Friday. We're double-dating! I met this really great looking guy at Starbucks the other day, and we had an awesome conversation about, well, everything, so I agreed to go out with him but his cousin is in town. His cousin is a hottie, don't worry, and I said you'd come. Please? I love you! You're amazing and I know you wouldn't let me down! Call me, bye."_

Kari groaned. The last thing she wanted to do was go out on a date next weekend. There was nothing wrong with being single, or at least not having to go on blind dates less than a week after getting out of a relationship.

She ran her fingers through her long, silky hair. Kari had really grown into a beautiful woman since her adventures in the Digital World. Her hair was layered and went past her shoulders. She had grown quite a bit taller, no longer a foot shorter than everyone. Her eyes still had the ruby tint to them; they had even become redder in the past few years. Timid was no longer a quality that described Kari. She was bold and adventurous, though still kindhearted and bearing an air of innocence and purity. She had developed well through her teen years. Long, slender legs, a flat, muscular stomach, decent sized breast, and a well toned body were just some of her gratifying features.

A year in New York had brought Kari and Mimi closer together. Before, they barely knew each other, but now they were almost inseparable. She had decided to go to school in New York, at New York University with Mimi. Freshman year was nearly over and Kari was eager to get back to Japan. She missed Odiaba and her friends and family.

The phone rang, causing Kari to jump. "Hello?" she said, quickly recomposing herself. "Oh, hey Kyle. How am I? About as good as I was when I saw you five minutes ago. Of course I made it up to my place okay, you saw me enter the building. I, hello?" A clicking sound was heard, muffled by static. "Kyle?"

What sounded like heavy, forceful breathing was heard through the other line. "Kyle? Stop being a jerk off!"

A croaking voice went through the line. "Light…we're watching you…"

"Who is this?" she demanded.

"Watching… we're always watching you, right behind you, in the shadows…" Kari slammed the phone back down on the receiver.

She shivered with fear. The shadows in the corner seemed to advance towards her. _Right behind you, in the shadows_ echoed her thoughts. Kari turned on her heel and saw that nothing was there. "I'm being stupid; someone's just trying to scare me." She sounded more like she was trying to convince herself than anything else.

Laughing intruded her thoughts. Kari didn't need to turn around; she knew that _they_ were behind her. The monsters from the Dark Ocean.

A piercing pain shot across Hikari's forehead. She fell to her knees as the headache blurred her vision. She could hear them circling around her. "I won't go back!" she shouted; her hands were grasping the sides of her head.

The creatures exchanged glances, each nonverbally commanding the other to move. None of them wanted to, however, they all feared what would happen if they provoked the Chosen Angel of Light. Finally, the leader took a bold step forward to grab Kari.

A glowing pink device flew between the creatures and landed by the young woman. Kari lowered a shaky hand over her D3. She picked it up and held it close to her as the agonizing headache drove her from consciousness. A light surrounded her as she passed out, consuming her and she disappeared.

(0)

The creature stood perfectly still, eyes concentrating on the black void in front of him. The surroundings suited him perfectly; cold, damp, and dark. He was standing in the throne room of his castle.

He closed his eyes and reached a tentacle forward to the void. A flash of light and a golden pendant shaped like a tear drop appeared in his mind before he retracted his tentacle arm in pain. Shaking the pain away, he considered the vision he had. A pendant. Was it what he was searching for?

"Report," he hissed, not bothering to turn to the servant that had entered the throne room.

"My Lord, we went after the digidestined, like you instructed."

"And…?" he said, finally turning away from the darkness.

"It was as she warned. The digivices reacted and protected them from your dark magic. They were sent to the Digital World, like she predicted."

"Fine, fine, does she know?"

"She has digimon ready to greet them."

"Very well. Is there anything else?" The creature sat on his throne.

"Only that a few of them could see us," he explained.

"Who?"

"Kindness and Light. Hope felt our presence, but none of the others knew we were there."

"I want you to start researching any Digital, Dark, Light, and Earth pendants you can find out about."

"Yes My Lord." He bowed and left the room.

"So they have returned. Things are falling into place perfectly."

(0)

That's it for the first chapter. It was kind of repetitive, but the other chapters won't be. There are a few things that I need to know before I write up chapter two, so if you could answer my questions in a review, that would be wondrous.

1. Does anyone care if I make Sora a total bitch? She already sorta is, but if anyone has too much of a problem with it, she can have an epiphany or whatever. I want to make her a complete and total wench.

2. Does anyone care if Cody is gay? There won't be any focus on a gay relationship, but I want to make it angsty and Cody got nominated for that.

3. The title. Help me, I need a good title. I got nothing. I'll take anything. Please.

4. Is the summary on front any good? There definitely isn't enough room for a decent one, but is it okay?

5. Couplings. Currently it's Taiora and Joe/OC. Any preferences? I plan on making it Michi, Koulie, and Yakari, I haven't decided yet. There will be some one-sided Daikari, Takari, Sorato, and Kenkari. If you want to see any specifically then tell me before I plan out these couples. And Yakari or Kenkari? I'm leaning towards Yakari, obviously.

I'm hoping for 5-10 reviews before chapter 2 and please answer these!


	2. Reuniting

Author's Note: I'm back with another chapter; it's only been a couple weeks. Okay, All my notes are going to be at the end.

**Adventures of the Tainted**

**Chapter Two: Reuniting **

"Davis, wake up! Get up, come on, please?" Ken desperately shook his friend's shoulder. "Get up!" he shouted into the brunette's ear. Ken sighed deeply. "Davis, if you don't get up, I'm going to let your sister walk out of here with your laptop so she can write more fictional pornographic stories starring her and Matt."

Davis jumped up, knocking Ken in the forehead. Memories of when his sister stole his laptop and wrote her own 'romance novel', without telling him, invaded his thoughts. "Don't you touch my laptop, Jun! I swear I'll kill…you? This isn't my room," Davis commented. "And there's no perverted sister around."

Ken gently rubbed his forehead. "I couldn't think of anyway to wake you up. God, your head is hard!"

Davis smiled sheepishly, poking his two index fingers together. "Uh Ken? Where are we?"

"The Digital World, I believe, one of the digital forests."

The events of the previous night slowly reentered Davis' mind. "When the digivice went off, we were sent here?"

"My, my, look at what has fallen into my forest!"

Ken snapped his head around. A small, wooden, puppet-like creature was standing on one of the branches in the trees above him. "Who are you?" he growled.

"The name is Puppetmon, though I don't think you'll need to remember. Tell me, has that nasty little boy, Takeru fallen around here?"

Ken looked over at Davis, willing him to keep his mouth shut. Davis, being Davis, did not notice the pleading look in his friend's eyes. "How do you know Ts?"

"Ts? Takeru broke all my toys the last time we met. I wanted to show him that I've got some new ones. I knew you'd all be coming here, so I had them made up as soon as possible. He's not going to mess with these ones! So, where is he?"

Davis shrugged. "Dunno, don't care. Lousy ass is probably at home sleeping. Like I should be. Mind pointing out a television so I can transport myself out of here?"

"A television…Oh! Right over there."

Davis jumped up onto his feet. "Thanks," he said, tipping his imaginary hat to Puppetmon. "I'll be sure to let Ts know you were looking for him. I, hey!" Shocked, Davis saw the remains of a broken television set that looked as if it had gone through quite a beating. Ken groaned.

"Did I forget to mention that we destroyed all the televisions in anticipation of your arrival? We wanted to get some practice in so as not to disappoint you. It's been so long since I was deleted, I'm a bit rusty."

Davis' jaw dropped. "You want to kill us, don't you?"

"What a question to ask," Ken hissed so that only Davis could hear. Davis gave an apologetic smile to Ken before turning back to Puppetmon.

"As a matter of fact, I am. Puppet Pummel!"

(0)

"_Taichi, what are you doing?"_

"_Hmm? Oh, nothing."_

"_Then why do you have your hand on my forehead? Do you think I have a fever?"_

_Tai had one hand placed over his sister's forehead and the other on his own. "Maybe Kari and I do have a fever. Yeah, that's it. Kari and I both have fevers and we're delirious. I'll wake up tomorrow and not remember anything about this crazy adventure." Tai mumbled to himself a moment longer._

"_Tai, I don't have a fever, I can see the monsters on TV, and I have been to Digiworld." Kari removed her older brother's hand away from her forehead._

"_But when? How?"_

"_I don't know, maybe I went the same way you did? It wasn't long ago, either."_

"_Kari, you've never been to the campsite, so you couldn't have gone the same way as I did."_

"_Well, I think I got there through…"_

"Tai, get up, man. Get up!"

Tai awoke reluctantly, trying to keep the details of his dream fresh in his mind. "How did you get there…?" he mumbled to himself.

The confused blonde kneeing in the dirt stood and helped his friend to his feet. "What are you talking about?"

"What?" he asked, remembering Matt's presence, "oh, nothing, I just had a strange dream. It isn't important." The dream echoed through Tai's mind, but since he didn't know the significance of the dream, he decided not to worry Matt. Why would he be dreaming about when he returned to Earth for that short time after defeating Etamon? Was there something important behind his younger sister's words? Kari had not once mentioned going to the Digital World alone when she was eight, not since that day. Nor did she seem to recognize it when the eight chosen children returned to meet the dark masters. Tai decided that his mind was just playing tricks on him.

Matt turned to see that the young soccer star had not been following him when he began walking away. "Hey, come on Tai! We have to meet up with Tk."

Tai observed his surroundings. They were in a dense forest; the shades of green, so dark that they appeared black, darkened the sky above him. A small pathway had been carved out, but the lower branches began to creep across and grass had grown up where there should only have been dirt. "Are we-"

"In the Digital World? Yes."

"Where's Tk?"

"He went ahead to see if the edge of the forest was anywhere nearby. He's waiting for us down the path, let's go." Matt resumed walking. "Now!" he shouted over his shoulder.

Tai ran up to meet Matt. He wouldn't mind finding the way out of the woods, it was hot and humid and the air was thick around them. The two walked in silence trying to fathom why they would have been dumped into the unappealing forest. Tai's thoughts kept returning to his dream. "Do you think that all twelve of us were sent back?" he asked, his voice slicing through the silence.

Matt pulled out his digivice. Two red dots were basically on top of each other, there one was a short distance ahead, and two more stationed in the far upper right hand corner, barely on the screen. "These two are us, Tk's is the one just ahead, and the other two, I'm not sure. But it is two of us, so we probably are all here."

Tai pulled out his own digivice and set it to locate mode. Five dots were on his digivice as well. "Let's go find out who they are," he suggested.

"Hey guys, over here." Tk was seen raising his arms over his head and waving them back and forth. He was standing on the path winding down in front of the two boys. "Hurry up!"

Matt and Tai took off in a run, each unconsciously competing to be the first to reach Tk. "Hey there, Teeks," Tai said, bending down and putting his palms on his knees, trying to catch his breath. The air was far too dense for running.

Tk pulled on his sleeves. "I found my D-terminal with me. It will come in handy if we don't find any of the others soon."

"Well, I say we find out who's nearby, let's move out, troops."

Matt and Tk sent each other irritated glances. "Tai, get over yourself."

Tai glared at the two boys. "You're just jealous because I'm the best one here." Both Matt and Tk burst out laughing. "Hey! That wasn't a joke! Wait, do you here that?"

Matt stopped laughing and listened. It sounded like the ground was being torn up. "Maybe there are two digimon fighting nearby?" Matt suggested.

Another sound was heard, this time, a high pitched, familiar voice. "Hey, don't move! I want to play! Puppet Pummel!"

Exchanging worried glances, the boys ran forward. Their fears were confirmed when they saw a small, wooden puppet, with his back turned to them. He was standing up in a tree, attacking something, or someone. "Puppetmon," Tai gasped, "but, how can that be?"

The dust settled from where Puppetmon's attack had torn up the ground. Davis and Ken were standing behind a tree. "Davis! Ken! Over here!" Tk shouted out to his friends.

Puppetmon turned around upon hearing the blonde boy's voice. "Takeru," he said cheerily, "I was hoping I would be able to see you." Tk's face was emotionless, though those who knew him well enough would know that he was afraid. He shifted his weight from one foot the other, and back again, pulling at his sleeves.

"How'd you get back here?" Tk demanded as Ken and Davis ran to meet the others.

"Funny story, actually. I was floating around as a collection of data in the Digital Graveyard, and some lady said that she would reassemble me, so long as I promised to help her get rid of you tiresome lot. Of course, I agreed. I never did get to tell you how mad I was that you broke all my toys."

"That's a touching story, but I'm afraid we're going to have to send you right back to where you came from. You couldn't beat us before, and you won't now." Tk moved so that he was standing in front of all the others.

"How do you expect to beat me without your mega digimon? You don't even have any digimon here to defend you. I could crush you right now, but I have new toys that I want to play with, first." Puppetmon jumped drown from the tree, landing in a deep bow. "Would you like to see them?"

"I'd rather not," Tk admitted, signaling for the others to back away.

"You are as much fun as you were when you were eight. I guess you're the same mean, selfish boy who broke all my toys. I'll just kill all of you now then, and use my toys on your friends."

Tk's thoughts immediately jumped to Kari. Was she in the Digital World as well? "Run!" Matt screamed, grabbing his brother's wrist and pulling him away. The spot where Tk stood was now only a deep hole.

"Humph! I'll try again! Puppet Pummel!" The attack hit the surrounding trees as the five boys ran through the forest. Fighting to keep from tripping over the fallen tree branches, and looking over their shoulders for signs of the demon puppet was tiring enough, but the thickness of the air made it unbearable. The attacks got closer and closer as the boys quickly lost their energy.

"Psst. Matt!" Matt turned his head and stopped dead in his tracks. Davis huffed angrily as he just avoided slamming into Matt's backside.

"Why are you stopping?" he demanded. "Hello, possessed toy with a really big hammer chasing us? What are you missing about this scene?"

"Gabumon!" Matt whispered. He cut across the path and hugged his old friend.

"Let's get you guys out of harm's way!" the blue digimon suggested. Matt wholeheartedly agreed.

The others quickly ran through the underbrush of the forest, off of the cleared pathway. The watched without breathing as Puppetmon walked by, a confused expression on his face. "Where could you have gotten to, little Digidestined? Tk, you know that seek and destroy is my favorite game!" He walked past where they boys were crouching down; his hammered was raised, ready for another attack.

All five boys let out a sigh of relief when Puppetmon was out of view. "That was too close," Tai said. "We need to find our digimon; we're sitting ducks as is."

"Ahem! What am I? Am I not a digimon?" Gabumon defensively stood up and glared up at Tai.

"No offense, but you're a champion at best, Puppetmon is a mega, we're going to need a lot more power." Gabumon scoffed again, angry at Tai for his distrust in his abilities. "Do you know where Agumon is, by the way?"

Gabumon shook his head. "Not exactly, anyway. The Digital World has been acting strangely as of late, so we split up to look over different areas on the island. I was guarding this forest as Garurumon, but I dedigivolved just before Puppetmon showed up, so I've been hiding. How did you get here, anyway?"

"Our digivices," Matt responded.

"But I don't think we were supposed to come here. I think that we would have gone to the Dark Ocean if it hadn't been for our devices." Ken looked solemnly at the others.

"What makes you think something as crazy as that?" Tai asked. He hadn't heard much about the Dark Ocean, other than that Kari and Ken had both been there. Neither one were willing to give the details about it, though.

"Because the creatures from the Dark Ocean attacked us."

"That must have been the presence I felt," Tk mused aloud. "I knew it was familiar. Those things were definitely in the apartment right before we were sent here."

"You've been to the Dark Ocean too?" Tai asked, somewhat irritated that he was so uninformed about the place.

"Yeah, Kari opened up a portal for me. I thought you knew about that."

Tai shook his head violently. "I hate to interrupt, but Puppetmon is sure to come back, and we don't want to be here when he does. I suggest we get moving now." Gabumon led the way through the thicket, slashing down some of the more annoying shrubs and branches so that the humans could get through.

(0)

"Should you wake her up or should I?"

"You do it, I'm afraid she might lash out at me if I try."

"Gee, Mimi, that's comforting." Cody sighed and lowered himself to his knees. "Sora? Could you wake up now, please?" Cody gently pushed on the redhead's shoulders. A sharp pain ran through his arm, which he ignored to avoid attention.

Mimi clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth. "It's never going to work if you just shake her lightly." Mimi sat down beside Cody and shook Sora forcefully. When Sora stirred, Mimi jumped up and put her hands together, trying to look innocent.

"What do you want Ky-Cody?" Sora sat up and glared at the junior. She silently scolded herself for almost calling him Kyle. Cody. Kyle. Nothing alike at all. Why had she almost called him that then? Perhaps she had been hoping that Kyle had been waking her up.

"I'm sorry," the younger boy said, jumping back to his feet. He looked over at Mimi, silently agreeing with her previous statement. He had never noticed how scary Sora could be. "We, uh, need to get moving."

Sora looked around. She was sitting on a cobblestone street, the houses around were made of the same material. Most of the houses, however, were knocked to the ground. All the trees were burned, and not a soul could be seen in the village. "God, this place is disgusting. How'd we get here? I need to find Tai so he can take me home."

Cody sighed; he was so uncomfortable around women, hell, he was uncomfortable around men too. Ever since he had found out, he had been afraid to do practically anything. He was already taunted enough at school, he could only imagine what his classmates would say when they found out he was gay. But then again, Jerry was an open homosexual, and he had plenty of friends. Maybe people didn't pick on the confident gay guy. Cody had the biggest crush on Jerry but he had heard Jerry say once before that he would never date a man who refused to openly face reality. He wouldn't have a boyfriend who was ashamed of what he was. Maybe that was why he never called on Friday nights.

"Hey Cody, you with us?" Mimi asked, gently tapping the boys' shoulder.

Cody jumped, "Oh, yeah, sorry. Did you say something?"

Mimi smiled at him genuinely. "Nothing important, I was just wondering if you knew how we got here."

"I really couldn't say. My digivice started glowing when my room was shrouded in darkness." Cody thought back to the box cutter being pushed into his skin; he decided to leave that part out.

"Huh, that's pretty much what happened to me. What about you, Sora?"

Sora sent Mimi a nasty glare. "Yeah," she responded coldly, elevating the tension between them.

"God, Sora, what is your problem?"

"Maybe I just don't want to be here! I want to know why we're here and how quickly I can get back. I've got better things to do than stand around in a shit-hole village in the Digiworld with some uppity New Yorker!"

Mimi was ready to give Sora a piece of her mind, but Cody intervened. "I think that we should have a look around, we might be able to find something we can take with us, or maybe a clue as to why we're here."

Cody entered one of the more stable looking buildings, Mimi started moving around some of the rubble that surrounded them, and Sora stood there, impatiently tapping her foot on the ground. "You could help," Mimi said, trying to keep herself from losing her temper. "It will make things go a lot faster."

Sora kicked a small wooden plank away from the center of the street. She sneered at Mimi before kicking a rock in her direction. It bounced up and hit Mimi in the knee. "Oh, sorry," she grumbled unconvincingly.

"Hey, I found some blankets, do either of you see a bag we could carry them in?" Cody stood in the doorframe holding twelve blankets neatly folded in his arms.

"I'll look," Mimi called, jumping over the rubble and entering another building. She moved around cautiously, wearily staring at the ceiling. A dusty black book bag was slung over a chair. She grabbed it and ran out as fast as she could. "Is this big enough?"

"Let's see." Cody and Mimi stuffed in the twelve blankets, which just fit in.

"Do you really think that we're going to need these?"

"Well, if we weren't the only ones sent here, and we find the others, I'd be willing to bet that they'd pretty pissed off if we got blankets for ourselves and not them. Seeing as we don't know why we're here, we have to be prepared for everything." Cody swung the bag behind his back.

"Uh guys, what do you think that is?" Sora pointed up to the sky. In the distance what looked like a black swirling tornado was heading in their direction. Sora ran and stood behind Cody.

The rushing air of the tornado slowed down and finally went away altogether when it was hovering above the three, revealing a woman dressed in black. Well, actually, a womon dressed in black. "Ladydevimon," Sora whispered.

"Ha! Three little humans with no digimon around to help them. Where's that angel bitch?" Ladydevimon landed eloquently on the cobble street in front of them. "I have a score to settle."

Assuming that Ladydevimon was talking about Angewomon, Sora assumed that Kari must be somewhere in the Digital World. "How should we know?" she spat out. "We only just got here!"

Mimi looked at Sora with pleading hazel eyes. "Don't piss off the scary woman who wants to cause us bodily harm."

"If she's so interested in getting revenge, she can go harass Kari and then she'd be more likely to find Angewomon," Sora retorted, her voice growing with anger.

Was Sora trying to get Kari killed? Mimi clenched her fists together, until the knuckles turned white. Ladydevimon was amused by their pointless bickering. "So, the Chosen of Light is here, after all? That's interesting, very interesting indeed. I'd go find her, but I think that I'd rather brush up on my attacks so that my battle with Angewomon will be in my favor. Darkness Wave!"

The wave of black energy rushed towards the three chosen, persuading them to start running. Most of the wave hit the house Cody had been in, sending debris flying in all directions. Sora, Mimi, and Cody ran into a building using the cover of the dust in the air to keep from being seen.

"Hey, I'm hiding here!" a soft voice whispered from the corner. "Wait, Cody? Sora? Mimi?"

"Veemon!" Cody exclaimed in hushed joy.

"In the flesh. What do you think about us getting out of here?"

"Why waste time even asking?" Sora growled.

"Where are you?" cooed a taunting voice. "I'm going to find you sooner or later."

Veemon waved his hand as a gesture to follow, moving a rug and exposing a dark stairway. "Let's get out of here before she decides to tear down all the houses!" Veemon ushered them past him, setting the rug back up before running to catch up. He cut across Mimi and jumped in the lead. "This leads to the outside," he explained. "We'll be right outside of the forest."

As soon as they reached the exit, Mimi walked past Sora, swatting her in the arm. "What the hell was that for?" Sora shouted.

"What were you thinking before? You practically told Ladydevimon to kill Kari!"

"I was just trying to save our lives. It's not like she knows where Kari is anyway. She doesn't even know if Kari was sent to the Digital World."

"That's not the point! What happened to you, Sora?"

"I grew up."

"You became a selfish bitch!"

Sora calmly walked up to Mimi and slapped her across the face. Mimi's face was shot sideways. "Don't you ever call me a bitch again" she warned.

Mimi grabbed a chunk of Sora's hair and yanked it harshly. Sora yelped in pain and dug her nails into Mimi's wrist, prompting the New Yorker to let go. Mimi grabbed onto Sora's shoulders, digging her own nails into Sora's skin.

Cody watched fearfully as the two girls fought. Veemon pulled on his pant legs, startling him so much that he nearly fell over. "Something is coming," Veemon warned.

Cody wasted no time in questioning what it was. He grabbed both Sora and Mimi, hushing their protests and hid in the bushes.

A group of five boys and one digimon walked along the edge of the forest. "Their signal is right around here. Three of us are really close by." Ken held up his digivice in the light. "It's too bad that these things can't tell us who we're looking for."

Sora jumped out of the bushes. "Tai," she screamed, wrapping her arms around his neck. Suddenly, she remembered that she was angry at Tai for some reason or another. She let go of him and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Sora? Are you alright?" a confused Taichi questioned.

"Taichi Kamiya I want you to take me home right now!"

"Little problem there, sweetheart. All of the TVs have been destroyed."

Sora glared at Davis. "Then you'd better start working on finding another way home," she hissed.

Ken shifted uncomfortably. He avoided Sora's gaze and Tai's suspicious look. "We should probably find everyone else before we make any decisions about what we're going to do."

Mimi gently rubbed her wrist. Small crescent shaped cuts had broken through her skin and had begun to bleed. "Meems, are you alright?" Tai asked, holding up her wrist.

"I'm fine, Tai," she said, sending a glare towards Sora that could kill a person. "It's no big deal." She smudged the blood with her finger and let her arm drop.

"Davish! I missed you!" Veemon ran and tackled his human partner.

"I missed you too! Wow, have you gained weight? You're crushing me!" Davis took a deep breath in as Veemon pulled away.

"Humph! I'll have you know that I'm in prime physical condition. I look great. Though I can't say the same for you," he added, pulling out a clump of dirt from Davis' hair.

Davis shrieked, jumped up, and shook his head violently to get the dirt out. "Damn that demon toy! I'm filthy!"

"Right… so I think Ken made a good point about finding the others. They might know more than we do." Tk looked back towards the forest. "We should keep moving, too. I don't know about the rest of you, but I don't want Puppetmon to find us."

"We were attacked by Ladydevimon," Cody piped up. "She said something about fighting Angewomon, and she doesn't know if Kari is here or not. I'd imagine none of you saw her, seeing as she isn't here now."

"Ladydevimon," Tai echoed. The memory of the battle between the fallen angel and Kari's digimon partner slowly came back to him. It had been a close battle, with Angemon as the obvious victor. "She must have been brought back by the same lady as Puppetmon was."

(0)

"Of all the places I could have landed, it had to be face down in a sand mound. If I were Tai or Matt or anyone else, I would have landed in a tropical oasis or a lush, green forest, but no, I get to land in the desert!"

"You know Joe, you weren't the only one who landed in the desert. Did you forget about Yolie and me?"

"Yeah, Izzy's right! Your theory about being 'anyone else' is seriously flawed. Now get a grip and let's get moving!" Yolie began tapping her foot impatiently.

"Hold on a minute, Yolie. I'm going to find out exactly where we are so that we leave the desert instead of going further into it. We've had to cross deserts before, and some of them took days to get through. I don't particularly care to repeat that." Izzy sat down Indian-style and booted-up his computer.

The map of the Digital World program was loaded. Izzy found their locations; luckily, they were not far from the edge of the forest. "What are those?" Yolie questioned, smudging her fingers on the screen over a collection of dots.

Izzy swatted her hand away and wiped the screen clean. "My guess is that the others are represented by the dots. There's eight, with us three included, someone's by themselves. I suggest we start heading towards the others, I don't see any individual dots on the map."

"Did you check the entire map?" Joe inquired. Izzy nodded his head shortly. "Maybe one of us weren't brought here, then."

"I hope…" Yolie said, though her voice betrayed her words of concern. If she was sent to the Digiworld, there should have been eleven others dragged there with her.

"I wouldn't worry too much about a missing companion. No matter where the twelve of you run off to, we're going to find you and finish you off." The three teens turned around to face the fallen angel that had threatened the Digital World years ago.

"Devimon, but how?" Izzy exclaimed, his logic telling him that this was impossible. "Angemon destroyed you. You're dead."

"Ah, but digimon never really die. You, with your infinite wisdom should realize that. Tell me where the angels are and I will let you live to see their destruction."

Joe glared up at Devimon. "You lost to one angel; you're telling me that you want us to send both of them your way. You're crazier than the last time we met."

"I have no interest in Angemon or Angewomon, I want the angels, not the digital angels. Where are they, I have use for them now that I have been resurrected." Devimon took a step towards the digidestined. "Where are they?"

Izzy looked down at his computer. "Oh my God, how is the Digital World so warped? It's being corrupted by dark energy at an accelerated rate. Is this your doing?"

"I am partially creditable for the Digital World's current state. There are other dark forces at work, ones with power you could not even begin to fathom. I need the angels so that I can match their power."

Yolie shuttered. Their, as in more than one, as in defeating evil enemies one after another. "You mean Tk and Kari, don't you?" Devimon smirked. Yolie clenched her fists tightly. "Even if I knew where they were, I'd never tell you! Go back to Hell you bastard!"

Izzy and Joe stared at Yolie in disbelief. Why she had blown up so suddenly was unknown to them. "Uh, Yolie, please don't piss off the evil digimon" Izzy hissed.

Devimon raised his hands above his head and collected energy from around him, turning black with his will. "If you cannot tell me, then I have no use for you!"

"Super Shocker!" Devimon's body lurched forward as he took a hit from behind. The energy returned to the atmosphere. "Leave them alone!" a bug-like digimon shouted.

"Tento!" Izzy hugged his partner in a warm greeting.

"How 'bout we get away from that psycho?" Joe suggested.

"Right," Izzy complied. "Tentomon, are you ready?"

"Tentomon digivolve to… Kabuterimon."

The large bug digimon quickly ushered the three teens onto his back. "Electro Shocker!" he shouted, hitting Devimon square in the chest. Kabuterimon flew away, heading in the direction that Izzy dictated.

"There they are!" Yolie screamed, tugging on Izzy's shirt sleeve excitedly. Kabuterimon lowered the digidestined down to the ground and let them jump off his back before dedigivolving.

"Yolie!" Mimi squealed, jumping at the younger girl. "I haven't seen you in ages! How are you?"

"Leave it to Mimi to make light of the situation," Joe muttered.

Mimi stuck her tongue out at Joe. "Lighten up, would ya?" Mimi gave Izzy an equally warm welcome, nearly strangling the poor teen.

"It's nice to see you too, Meems," Izzy whispered with short breaths.

"Uh Tk, I should probably let you know that Devimon has been brought back." Joe informed the group of the short encounter with the fallen angel.

"So we need to find Kari as soon as possible," Tk said.

Tai eagerly agreed. "From what we've learned, some lady has been resurrecting our old foes. Devimon, Ladydevimon, and Puppetmon have already made their appearances. Who knows who else could be waiting for us? What if Myotismon was brought back? Kari could be in serious danger!"

(0)

She lay under the overhang of the rocks that formed a steep cliff. He watched her intently, studying her features in the dim light. He sat down beside her and gently caressed the side of her face. She stirred slightly, causing him to jump back into the shadows.

"Hikari…"

A droplet of water fell onto Hikari's cheek. Reluctantly, she opened her eyes and sat up. The ceiling of the formation was only a few feet above her head. She looked around, she was sure she had heard someone call her name.

"Hikari…"

"Who's there?" she demanded, trying to keep some form of confidence in her voice.

"I must warn you, Hikari, there are many foes out for you. They wish to corrupt the purest form of light which flows through your veins. You must be weary of all things in this world."

"And what about you? Which side are you on?"

The voice let out a sharp laugh. "That remains to be seen. I assure you that we'll be meeting each other soon enough. That will be decided then."

"Why not show yourself now?" Kari asked, looking around for the source of the voice.

"You are not ready, everything must fall into place. Your friends are up north; find them quickly before an enemy finds you all alone." The voice faded as it spoke, until it was just a faint whisper in Kari's ear. She felt like she knew the owner of that voice, from somewhere or some time ago.

Sighing heavily, Kari pulled herself to her feet, carefully avoiding the rock above her. She stepped out into the light and she shivered uncomfortably. The Digital World felt so off balance, much more than ever before.

Trying to ignore the nagging feeling from the darkness in the Digital World, Kari headed north to find her companions. After a short trek she was at the edge of a forest. Kari pulled out her D3 and set it to detect mode. She wasn't far from the others, she realized. Eleven dots were stationed just above hers.

Kari continued forward until a familiar voice reached her ears. "What if Myotismon was brought back? Kari could be in serious danger!" Kari instantly recognized the speaker as her older brother.

A second voice chimed in. "Well, in case you haven't noticed, Kari isn't showing up on any of the digivices or on my program. For all we know she could be in New York, completely unaware of what's happening." Kari took a few steps forward and saw a redhead sitting on the ground, eyes glued to his computer screen. She also noticed Matt pacing back and forth, running his hand through his hair repeatedly.

"What if she's in that Dark Ocean place that you guys mentioned before?" Tai asked, turning to Ken and Tk. "She wouldn't show up in the Digital World if she was sent to that dark world."

"Tai, there are enough pessimists in our group without you being all negative. Of course I _have _to be in mortal danger just because you don't know where I am. Well, I'm here, and I'm fine." Kari gave her brother a disapproving glance for his negative remarks.

"Kari! How'd you get here?"

"I walked from somewhere that way," Kari said, throwing her hand carelessly in the direction she had come from. "I heard your voice, so I came this way." She decided to leave out the part about her conversing with a mysterious voice; there was no need to worry them unnecessarily.

"That doesn't explain why you weren't showing up on the D3's or our digivices."

Kari shrugged and held up her own D3. Sure enough, twelve dots were concentrated in one area. "Maybe yours needs new batteries?"

Kari looked over at Davis, who was staring dumbly. She gave him a questioning look, prompting him to explain. "You look hot," he said in a distant voice.

Kari looked down, noticing for the first time that she was wearing a different outfit. A pair of faded blue, low-rise hip-huggers and a pale pink tank top that intensified her already appealing curves, and a pair of white sneakers made up her attire. She felt somewhat self conscious with Davis' eyes surveying her body. "Stop being a perv!" she shouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Hey," Izzy said, realizing himself that his clothing was different. "I'm back to an orange shirt." Izzy was indeed sporting an orange shirt, as well as dark blue jeans.

"Ugh, I've got a long sleeve shirt and shorts, _again._" Tk found himself in the same style clothing as his previous adventures had been. His shirt was a light green, with a horizontal strip in yellow across his chest, and one down his right arm. He wore khaki colored shorts, and, as always, a hat rested comfortably on his head. Tk removed the bucket-shaped hat. "I thought I'd seen the last of you years ago!"

Davis was wearing a red shirt with blue jeans. He also sported a dark blue jacket that had flame designs at the very base of the sleeves. Ken was wearing a navy blue shirt with sleeves that nearly reached his elbows. His jeans were the same shade of blue as his shirt, and his sneakers were black. Tai was wearing a white tee and tan colored shorts that reached just past his knees.

Kari noticed that Matt looked very sexy in his tight, short sleeve, black shirt and black jeans. She avoided staring, and instead saw what the rest were wearing. Mimi had on a hot pink strapless shirt, with white flower imprints. Her pants were more formal than casual, looking almost suede in appearance. Yolie's shirt was lavender in color, perfectly matching her hair color. Her jeans were a light blue and had rhinestones along the pocket lining. A blue bandana held her hair back from her face. Sora's shirt looked more like a piece of lingerie, something that would be sold in Victoria's Secret or someplace similar. It was a tan silk cami with a lace pattern trimming at the neck line. Her shirt was extra low-rise and she wore hooker boots that zipped up to her knees.

Cody looked very much like he had when they were saving the world as children. His shirt was a neutral color, a grayish whitish mix of color, and long enough to bypass his fingers, and his pants were brown. Joe had on a white shirt with a blue vest over it. His pants were also made from jean fabric, and he had his glasses on.

"So Kari, how's what's-his-face doing?" Tai asked his sister about her ex-boyfriend, knowing that she hadn't mentioned it to him.

"Oh, we broke up."

"Really?" Tai asked with fake surprise. "Does that mean I'm allowed to beat his face in the next time I run into him?"

"No, we're still friends."

"Right, like anyone actually stays friends with their ex's" Davis chimed in.

"Actually," Kari snapped, unhappy with the sudden interrogation involving her love life, "last night we went out to dinner, _as friends_."

"Wow," Matt said, not realizing he was speaking allowed. "I didn't think anyone could actually pull off going out with ex's as friends. I've never seen it happen." Kari smiled at him for his (sort of) compliment.

"That reminds me, did you get my message?" Mimi asked.

"Yes I did, and, if we aren't here by the time Friday roles around, I have a date with my television and a quart of ice cream. No exceptions."

Mimi pouted. "But…" Kari's face expression remained stern. "Alright, I'll just tell them you're sick or something." She sighed, she had wanted to double-date so badly, too. "Well, did you at least tell Tai about your plans?"

"I was going to wait until it was finalized, but," she looked over at her brother; his eyes were lit up with curiosity. "I'm going to transfer to a school in Odaiba after this year is over. And Meems is going to be moving back to Japan after her senior year."

"Really?" Davis inquired, cutting in before Tai could speak. "Maybe you and me could finally hook up then?" Draping his arm over Kari's shoulders, Davis shot her a suggestive glance.

"Bite me, Daisuke."

"Can I choose where?" Davis asked, without the slightest hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"Watch it, Dai," Tai warned.

"Maybe we should start looking for the digimon," Ken suggested, resisting the urge to punch his best friend. "Gabumon, you said that they were all nearby, right? Who's closest?"

Gabumon thought for a moment. "Agumon," he finally decided.

The group set out to find the Chosen Digimon of Courage. According to Gabumon, he was in a small village west of their location.

Tai grew restless as the sun grew higher in the sky. "I wonder how long we're going to be here," he mused.

Sora glared at her boyfriend. "It had better not be long," she hissed.

"It'll be as long as we're needed," Kari said, speaking rationally. Sora's eyes narrowed in Kari's direction. Was it truly necessary for the little bitch to comment like she had?

The outline of the village was finally visible in the distance. Tai ran quickly, cutting the distance between him and his digimon partner. He was greeted by a tackle and the delighted squeal of a beloved orange digimon. "Tai! I missed you! How'd you get here? How are you?" Agumon stuffed Tai with questions before he even let Tai sit up.

"I missed you too, old buddy. I'm doing alright, considering the fact that I have no idea why I'm here. It's good to see you all the same."

Agumon's grin widened. "I'll get the others" he said.

"Are they all here?" Tai asked.

"Yep, in the last few days we all dedigivolved and we've been meeting up to try to figure out why. We didn't find Gabumon, Tentomon, or Veemon, though."

"That's alright, we did." The rest of the chosen children and the three digimon arrived where Tai was.

Agumon ran and found the rest of the chosen digimon. There was a long and heartfelt reunion between the digidestined and their partners. Hawkmon and Biyomon walked together, wing-in-wing, obviously love had sprouted between the two. Yolie thought it was fabulous that Hawkmon had found love, but Sora inwardly disapproved of her digimon's choice.

When the sun finally began to set, the digidestined decided to find a place to camp out, far enough away from the village so as not to endanger the inhabitants. They settled on the wooded area, with the village in sight. Cody distributed the blankets he had found, grateful that he had thought to look for supplies. The air was getting chillier, and most of the digidestined were not dressed for the cold.

Yolie shivered into her blanket. She looked around, trying to find a distraction from the cold. A black cloud on the horizon caught her eye. It was darkening the entire sky, though it was not past five-o-clock yet, too early to be dark. "What's that?" she asked aloud.

The digidestined, curious to know what had caught the lavender girl's eye, turned to face the black cloud. It proceeded to get closer, giving the adolescents a nervous feeling. When the cloud was directly in front of them, it dissipated, revealing a tall and slender woman. She was undoubtedly a digimon, part bird and very humanoid in appearance. She had arms with feathers that extended out past them, and long fiery colored hair that reached her lower back. Her clothing was a yellow bodysuit, showing off her stomach and most of her left leg. A green sash was tied around her waist and one was tied around her ankle. She had a very attractive face, save for the eerie black orbs that served as eyes.

"My name is LadyMiramon. I have brought you here, Chosen."

(0)

And that concludes chapter two. As I said before, notes are at the end.

Response to reviews: Firstly, I give much thanks to the reviewers, you are beautiful people.

Sora will in fact be the wenchyist person in the known cosmos.

Cody, as the chapter has noted, is homosexual. (It might seem in later chapters that I'm a homophobe or something, but I want to assure you now that I am not. One of my favorite people in the world is gay, (My color guard instructor.))

Oh, yes, I was ordered to give Sorato fans their props. Well, I give Sorato fans their props, I suppose. This same review has forbidden anything that would so much as imply a Yolie and Izzy pairing, if I understood it correctly. I don't know if it was swearing misspelled or the word 'fic' misspelled. It may forever be a mystery. But, yeah, the Yolie and Izzy pairing is still undecided, but more likely than not.

In the Japanese version, so I've heard, Dragomon wanted to mate with Hikari to protect him and his offspring from the Digimon Kaiser. I don't know the details, but that was why Kari was transported to the Dark Ocean in the Japanese storyline. The US, fearing the corruption of children, and us teens with an unhealthy obsession for the show, did not follow that segment of the story. As far as I know, that wasn't resolved in the Japanese version, leaving it as wide open as our version was. My explanation will have nothing to do with the US's crappy dubbing, nor with the Japanese way.

Megan is not based on a real person, nor is Jerry. If they are featured in the fic at all again before the DD go home, it will be for some genuine Joe and/or Cody torture. They aren't important at all, really.

Yakari has been favored and the first signs of it will show up in chapter 3.

Okay, now just some Author's Notes:

The chapters are pretty long in my opinion. Long chapters means lots of time planning and writing, and some time reading. I'm going to alternate between stories, after a chapter from this, a chapter from the Shattered sequel (The Kaiser's Revenge) will be posted. They will come out faster after guard season is over.

Are ten reviews per chapter too much to expect? They are long chapters. I'm I setting it too high? I'm spending a lot of time on this fic, I'd love to know how I'm doing, and how to improve!

As far as I'm concerned, T rated is equivalent to PG-13. PG-13 movies sometimes use the F- word, with will probably show up in this fic by chapter 4. If anyone has a serious problem with it, let me know. I don't want to be reported or anything.

P.S. I love reviewers

Jillie062


	3. Losses and Gains

Author's Note: IMPORTANT! In the series, Dragomon was the Dark Undersea Master that resided in the Dark Ocean. Daemon was some unbelievably powerful enemy that Ken and the others sent to the Dark Ocean because they didn't have the power to defeat him. (Personally, I think they just got tired of writing the episodes and took the easy way out to end the series, but that's just my opinion.) I read summaries but they don't really tell the details and the reruns haven't gotten that far yet. (Not that I ever get a chance to see the reruns, anyway.) Back to the point, in my fan fiction, Daemon was in the Dark Ocean the whole time, ruling over the Scubamon, he's taken Dragomon's part. Dragomon doesn't exist, and Daemon never went to the 'Real World.' I looked up both Dragomon and Daemon, Dragomon is a seriously hideous creature, and Daemon is veiled in a hooded cloak. I combined their images because I sort of combined their characters. That's all, I'm done. I HOPE YOU DIDN'T SKIP OVER THIS!

**Adventures of the Tainted**

**Chapter Three: Losses and Gains**

"Ladymiramon? Okay… and why have you brought us here?" Tai put his hand in his pocket, wrapping his fingers around his digivice.

"You must be Taichi, the original leader. I am truly honored to make your acquaintance. You led the team to victory against many formidable foes. And the look alike must be Daisuke, a worthy replacement from what I've been told."

Davis looked over the humanoid figure in front of him. Do the enemies generally compliment their foes? Maybe she'd brought them there to help? "Uh, thanks, I guess. So why have you brought us here?"

Kari felt Ladymiramon's evil presence flowing around them all. It was sickening, though not as nearly as the auras of the dwellers of the Dark Ocean. "She's not an ally of ours, Davis, she's definitely evil." The digimon took defensive stances in front of their respective partners.

Ladymiramon's face darkened. "I see now, you must be the Chosen of Light. Does my aura disturb you? It doesn't seem to affect your comrades, even those with connections to the darkness. You should be a good little girl and keep your mouth shut."

Izzy was growing impatient with this woman quickly. Both Tai and Davis had asked her for her motives, and both times she evaded the answer. "What do you want with us?" he demanded.

Tsking quietly, the humanoid digimon considered the question. At long last, she began an explanation. "As children, you were chosen because you displayed certain attributes that were required of the protectors of the Digital World. By accepting the task of protecting it, and riding it of the dark forces that threatened its very existence, your attributes were intensified. They were unparalleled to normal humans, even though many of you could not consciously tap into these attributes. I've been told that the protectors of Friendship, Love, and Kindness had any especially difficult time drawing power to fight the darkness."

"Get to the point," Izzy said, displeased by the stalling.

"Of course, of course. Patience and knowledge do not go well together, it seems. I brought you here because you have become undeserving of the attributes you were granted, and I wish to make better use of them. I've come to relieve you of your crests and digieggs."

"We don't have crests," Izzy pointed out.

"Not physical representations, no, but they dwell in you tainted hearts. They are useless in the fight for good and justice when their bearers are tainted with darkness." Ladymiramon rose above them, raising her hands into the air.

Kari began to feel sick as Ladymiramon drew more dark energy from the air around her. The digivices were drawn into the core of the energy sphere that was forming between her raised arms. They flew out of hands, pockets, and from belt loops.

"Hey!" Tai shouted, jumping forward to try and grab the floating digivice. Ladymiramon laughed at his efforts, using her dark powers to pull him to his feet. Her right hand went down, perpendicular to the ground, straight out in front of her.

Images of her hand extended outward, a shadow image for each of the digidestined. Every one of the digimon was frozen in their places, as if they had been put to sleep. The dark energies encircled each teen separately. The hand reached inside of Tai and pulled out a glowing representation of the Crest of Courage. It was tainted black, rather than shining golden like it should have been.

The same thing happened with the other Digidestined. Ladymiramon's shadow hands pulled the essences of the crests right out of them. She took them and combined them into one glowing orb. "Hmm, I'm missing one."

Ladymiramon looked at her victims. Several were standing with their hands over their hearts, feeling like a piece of them had been ripped out of their very souls. Tai and Matt had their hands balled up into fists, trying to force their ways out of the entrapment of dark energy. Their voices were muted, unable to pierce through the barrier. One, however, was standing defiantly; the dark energy circled around but could not touch her. "I should have guessed that the Chosen of Light wouldn't have been tainted by darkness. I'll have to step things up a notch."

The mock hands grabbed the D-terminals from the younger digidestined, taking the eggs out. Ladymiramon crushed each egg as the group watched in horror. Tk beat his fists against the barrier, and was knocked back by the force of impact. Ladymiramon drew the dark energy back to her person. She needed a different type of dark energy to get the Crest of Light.

Smiling sinisterly, Ladymiramon raised her arms once more. She then drew dark energy out of the digidestined, using their corrupted auras to create a similar image of her arm. This shadow was powerful enough to penetrate through Kari's natural light barrier, ripping the Crest of Light out of her. It shined without the faintest hit of blackness. She fell to the ground; the dark energy clouded her senses.

The terminals were dropped to the ground. "I will be seeing you all again soon, farewell Chosen." Ladymiramon's presence faded from in front of them.

Tai lunged forward to grab the enemy digimon, but she was already gone. He landed flat on his face. "What the fuck just happened!" he growled getting up on his knees. "Oh! Kari!"

(0)

Ladymiramon reappeared in a dark throne room. "Daemon," she shouted impatiently, "I need to speak with you!"

"No need to raise your voice, My Lady, I can hear you perfectly well at a normal volume. You bring me some pleasing news, I expect."

Ladymiramon produced the orb of light that the union of crests had formed. "I do believe you will find my news very pleasing."

Daemon extended his tentacle arm forward and took the orb. He pulled at it; a string of untainted light came out. It shifted around and took the image of the Crest of Light. Pushing dark energy into it, the crest turned the same color as the other crests. He smiled as he put the crest back with the others. "It's a pity I can't just do this to the Angel of Light."

Ladymiramon sighed with irritation. "I don't understand your fascination with that girl. She looks like every other human girl I've ever seen."

"Tell me, did you have any trouble extracting her crest?"

"As a matter of fact, I did. I had to use the dark energy of her friends to get it. She isn't tainted like the other digidestined. If we had been able to send them here like we had planned, there would have been no trouble. The dark atmosphere would have drained her of her energy."

"She'll be here soon enough, I assure you. As soon as I find out which pendant I'm looking for, I'll be able to make my move."

"Why are you looking for a pendant?" she asked the cloaked ruler of the Dark Ocean.

"You'll see soon enough," he replied. "As for now, I need to use the power of the crests to open a portal back to my home. I need to find one of my most loyal servants in order to proceed with my plans."

Daemon placed the orb against the black void and watched as it slowly sank in. "Open a portal to the Dark World!" he commanded. An archway, very similar to a doorway, spread from where the orb was placed. Daemon looked back at Ladymiramon. "You'll be hearing from me soon" he said before stepping through.

Ladymiramon left the Dark Ocean and transported herself back to the Digital World. "You've given Daemon the crests?"

Ladymiramon turned to face the man who had come to join her. She bowed her head in respect. "I have. He's in the Dark World now, seeking out one of his servants."

"He's still intending to proceed with his plans then?"

"Yes, but I don't understand why you are allowing this. If he is successful, all of your plans will be useless."

The figure laughed. "Daemon is merely a pawn, one whose usefulness is quickly deteriorating. I need him to get some of what he wants before I can make any moves. If the digidestined don't dispose of him when he's no longer needed, then I will."

"And what about that girl of Light? She's a part of his plans. Will you let him have her?"

"I'm hoping that I won't have to get involved, that her friends keep him from being successful. I don't want to reveal myself until the opportune moment. However, if I must get involved, then I must get involved."

Ladymiramon bowed once more. "I will report back to you when Daemon makes some progress."

The figure nodded before turning his back to her. Ladymiramon was relieved to see him go. His insistence on being so secretive was somewhat irksome, and even more annoying was his desire to drag the whole thing out. The digidestined were practically defenseless, why not kill them all before they found some way of fighting back?

(0)

Tai scrambled to his feet and ran over to where Kari was. She was out cold from when Ladymiramon attacked her. "Kari!" Tai shook his sister's shoulder gently.

Mimi sat down next to Tai. She put the back of her hand against Kari's cheek. "She's cold," Mimi commented softly.

"She's too pale," Tk added as he joined the two. The others joined too, fearful for Kari's condition.

_Tai, I don't have a fever and I've been to Digiworld._ Tai shook his head in an attempt to expel the thoughts from his mind. Now definitely wasn't the time for cryptic memories to return to him.

The digimon slowly regained their motor abilities. Gatomon snuck between Izzy and Joe and to Kari's side. She could feel the dark aura that surrounded Kari that came from the digidestined. "Get back!" she hissed at Tai and the others, lashing out with her claws. "You're only making it worse!"

Tai jumped back to avoid being clawed in the face. "What are you talking about?"

"You're radiating dark energy, and it isn't helping Kari recover. Give her some space for a moment."

Tai reluctantly backed away, unsure of what Gatomon meant. Radiating dark energy, wasn't that something the bad guys did? Izzy, it seemed, was thinking the same thing. "It's sad really, we've all become victims of the darkness and we didn't even realize it."

"What do you mean?" Yolie asked as she sat down next to Hawkmon and Biyomon, her eyes locked on Gatomon as she looked after Kari.

"We became disconnected from our crests because we no longer exemplify the purity that we did when we were chosen to wield our specific attributes. Our dispositions are darker than when we were children, which is why Ladymiramon was able to take our crests so easily."

"What about Kari? What happened with her?"

"I suppose that Kari still has the same purity and innocence that her childhood self did. Being the Protector of Light, it would be harder for her to be tainted. Ladymiramon must not have had the power to extract her crest, so she took our dark energy and used it."

"What did we miss, exactly?" Veemon questioned.

"Not much, really. We just lost the ability to make you guys' digivolve. No biggie," Davis explained.

"What! No big deal! Are you insane!" Veemon obviously missed the sarcastic tone Davis employed.

"It's kind of like when we lost the ability to become ultimates" Patamon remembered sadly. "Only now we can't become champions or armors, either."

Tk picked up his digimon partner. "I'm sorry," he whispered.

"It's alright, I'm just glad you're alright. It's just going to be more difficult to keep you safe. Not that it ever was easy, with you rushing into danger head-on all the time." Patamon smirked at his human partner, remembering how stubborn Tk was when it came to defeating the darkness.

Mimi comforted her digimon who had just learned that Togomon no longer existed. "We'll find a way to make you digivolve," Mimi insisted.

The sound of Kari waking up drew the attention of the digidestined. Tai looked at Gatomon who nodded silently. Tai fell to his sister's side. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine she insisted," Kari insisted. She sat up only to experience a feeling of dizziness that compelled her to lie back down. "Or I will be, at least."

"We should get somewhere safe," Joe suggested.

Tai agreed, and with the help of Matt, he helped Kari to her feet. They stood on either side of her, supporting her as she walked. Kari sent Gatomon an apologetic smile.

"Don't feel guilty," Gatomon said, reading her partner's mind. "There's no way you could have prevented this. Don't blame yourself, if anything, we should be feeling badly."

"Why do you say that?" Yolie asked.

"We should have been better prepared to fight that lady. We were overpowered by her with little effort on her part. If she had intended on hurting you guys, we would have been powerless to stop her."

"She's just toying with us," Matt explained. "She could have easily killed us all, but she just left. Ladymiramon is going to try and drag this out; she knows that we can't defend ourselves."

"It's good to see that you're as cheery as ever, Yama." Kari said as she stood on her own. "It's nice to see that that hasn't changed."

Yama? Matt didn't remember hearing Kari ever call him that before. He couldn't say that he didn't like it. He smiled at her. "I wouldn't want to break the status quo" he replied.

"This looks like a good spot," Ken said. They were in a small clearing in the woods, their location veiled by trees and shrubs.

"We should get some firewood and start up a fire," Tai suggested. "Just make sure that no one goes off by themselves."

Tai, Ken, Davis, and Tk went to collect firewood, Yolie and Izzy set up a spot where they would start the fire, and Matt, Kari, and Mimi looked for anything edible. Unfortunately, all they found were some berries and most of them were rotted.

"We should do something to lighten the mood," Mimi suggested when the entire group was gathered around the fire that existed courtesy of Agumon. The digimon all relaxed a short distance away, leaving their human partners to themselves.

"How about truth or dare?" Yolie replied. "I'll start. Hmm… Kari, truth, dare, double dare, or promise to repeat?"

Kari tapped her chin to emphasize being in deep thought. "Dare." Noticing Yolie's sinister smile, she added: "just remember that my brother is here."

"I guess that pretty much rules out any dares that we used at parties senior year, doesn't it?" Yolie said.

"What did you do?" Tai asked.

Yolie looked over at Kari before locking eyes with Tai. "Just remember Yolie, two can play at this game," Kari warned.

Yolie, in the interest of protecting the secret of her own embarrassing moments, decided not to give the details about some of the parties she and Kari had gone to in their senior year of high school. She clapped her hands together, "we listened to church hymns and sang Kumbiya."

Tai sighed in defeat. He wasn't getting anything out of Yolie. "Whatever, just dare her already."

"Okay, Kari, I dare you to…kiss all of the eligible bachelors and rate them according to our system. Then you must report the three lowest scores."

Kari wasn't really surprised by Yolie's dare. It was tamer than some of her other dares, however, so Kari was grateful. She silently accepted the dare, standing up and moving over to where Davis was. She went in to kiss him lightly, but he pulled her into a fierce kiss. After a few minutes, Davis finally let go for some air.

Cody was next in the circle; he had little experience kissing, and didn't particularly care to be subject to the dare. There were other people he'd have kiss him, but he could deal with Kari kissing him.

Ken already experienced kissing Kari, from when they dated. She hesitated slightly after sitting next to him, but kissed him nonetheless. The kiss lasted almost as long as the one with Davis, but was less tiring. He didn't try to stop her when she pulled away.

Tk was next up. He eagerly pulled her into a deep kiss, wrapping his arms around her waist. This had been something he dreamed about, he'd have to thank Yolie later.

After Tk, it was Izzy's turn. The kiss was short and sweet; it was obvious that neither participant was interested in a five minute make-out session. Tk stared coldly at the redhead, however, upset that he had to watch Izzy, of all people, kissing Kari.

Yamato was the last one left. Kari sat down next to him and slowly moved in for a kiss. He met her halfway and placed his hand on her cheek. Using his tongue, Matt parted her lips and explored the inside of her mouth. The kiss was only broken when Tai cleared his throat loudly, reminding Matt that there were people around him, and several looked ready to gouge his eyes out.

After making out with all the single guys, Kari returned to her seat. She conveniently forgot the second part of the dare, before Yolie decided to remind her. "Lowest three scores," she ordered.

"Is this the one through five system?" Mimi asked.

Yolie nodded with hesitation. How did Mimi know about her and Kari's rating system? She hadn't been at any of the outings that they used it. As if reading her mind, Mimi said: "Kari told me some stories about what you two have put each other through."

Kari thought for a moment: which of the boys had the three lowest scores? "Um, this is kind of hard. Okay, first up is Tk with a 2.8, followed by Ken with a 2.4, and…" Kari bit her lip, not wanting to give the final rating. "Yama has a 1.5" she said finally.

Mimi giggled like a school girl and Davis gloated about having a higher score than Ken and Tk. Matt was too shocked to say anything. A 1.5! How did he get that when Cody wasn't even on the list?

"Okay, Tk, you know the options. Pick one" Kari said.

"Truth," he said slowly. He hated being picked, it seemed like he always had the worst dares and least appealing truths.

"What happened to you the night that we were supposed to meet Yolie, Ken, and Davis, but you never showed up?"

"I got piss-ass drunk with Tanner from the basketball team and passed out on the floor." That was an easy enough confession. "Mimi, pick an option."

"Dare," she replied.

"I really suck at this," Tk admitted. "I dare you to pretend to be Michael Jackson."

Mimi stood up, ruffled her hair, and walked over to Tk. She sat down in his lap and did her best Michael Jackson impression. "Hey there little boy, hows about we head over to my place; I'll teach what it's really like to be in Neverland."

Tai cracked up laughing. Mimi was almost too convincing in her interpretation. Mimi stuck out her tongue at him before taking her seat again. "Matt, pick dare."

Matt calmly obliged. "Dare," he confirmed.

"Convince Kari to change your score."

Matt didn't need to be asked twice. He wrapped his arm around Kari's waist and pulled her into a kiss. He started to pull away, only to deepen it. Matt finally did pull away, unable to keep a smile from his lips.

"New score?" Mimi asked.

Kari bit her lower lip. "Zero point five," she whispered.

"What! What kind of crackpot system do you use?" Matt knew he was a better kisser than that.

"Matt, darling, it's a score of one to five, one being the best. You've just beat the system." Mimi chuckled slightly.

"Oh, never mind then." Matt felt a mixture of foolishness and smugness at that moment. "My turn? Right, um, Izzy, truth or dare or whatever else?"

"Truth."

"What is the only class that you've even gotten below an A in?"

Izzy glared at Matt, "I told you that in confidence." The group all stared with heightened interest. "The course on Human Sexuality."

"You got a B in that course? That's practically the only class that's keeping me from flunking out!" Davis explained through a laughing fit.

"I'm not really all that surprised" Yolie said under her breath.

"What was that, Yolie? You're an a-sexual wench and you plan on mating with yourself?"

"I am not a-sexual! Just because I'm not a delusional obsessive pervert-"

"I'm not delusional!"

Ken cracked a smile. "But you are an obsessive pervert?"

Davis glared at his best friend. Suddenly, he was smiling again, "aren't we all, Kenny boy?"

"I think that it's Izzy's turn," Ken said quickly.

"Oh no, please continue with your conversation. Apparently Davis is the God of the Human Sexuality course. Please Almighty Daisuke, share with us your infinite wisdom."

"Well you see, when a guy and a girl have a physical attraction to one another they give into their animal-like lustful urges and-"

"Maybe Izzy should take his turn," Ken said, cutting of his friend before he made this fic M rated.

"Sora,"

"What?"

"Truth, dare, double dare, or promise to repeat?"

Sora was lying on her side and using her hand to prop her head up. She was too lazy to do anything that involved moving, so she picked the easiest. "Truth."

"Why did you quit the tennis team?"

"Because people pissed me off," she answered simply. "Ken, you're up."

"Truth," Ken said anxiously. No matter what he picked, Sora was going to find a way to torture him.

"What's the first thing that pops into your head when I ask what your biggest regret is?"

The first thing? Yeah, he was right; she was trying to torture him. "Offering to take your coat at the graduation party," he said coldly. Sora had been hoping for that answer. When Ken hosted a party for the graduates the previous summer, Sora and Tai had been taking a break. Ken and Kari were dating at the time and Sora wanted to make some trouble in paradise for the two happy teens. She followed Ken into the bedroom where all the coats were being set on the bed, and started kissing him. Kari walked in at just the right moment, and, well, her goal had been accomplished.

"Gee Sora, thank you for killing that game," Mimi snapped. "I'm going to bed."

No one found any reason to object to Mimi's statement, in fact, they all decided that she had an exceptionally good idea. The digimon rejoined their partners around the fire, snuggling up under the blankets with their human companions. "I'll take first watch," Joe said as he standing up.

"I'll go second," Izzy said.

"And I'm third," Davis added.

It didn't take long for the melancholy adolescents to fall asleep.

(0)

_She was standing on the very beach that still haunted her dreams. It had been eight years since she'd actually been there, but the image was as clear as it was back then. The uninviting cave still resided at the base of the cliff; the sand and water were anything but aesthetically pleasing; the wind still sent chills up her spine._

_The cave seemed to be calling to her, like some unknown force was bidding her to go inside of it. Kari wanted answers, maybe they were in that cave? The cave was long and winding, though there was only one pathway so she didn't need to worry about getting lost._

_At long last, a light shone at the end of the tunnel. Kari found herself standing in a hallway of a castle. A Scubamon saw her and extended a finger in the direction he had come from. "He's waiting for you," he hissed._

_Kari took a deep breath and started down the hallway. It led to an empty thrown room. "Typical," she sighed, "I'm stupid enough to confront the enemy and he isn't even here."_

"_Don't be so quick to assume that I am not present. I merely wished to observe for a moment or two." _

"_What do you want? Why am I here?"_

"_I wanted to see you; we never did have the chance to meet in person when I had you brought here before." Daemon stepped closer to Kari, she backed away._

"_Your 'loyal subjects' wanted to get rid of you, that's why I was brought here."_

"_You're still so naïve. I'm afraid that my servants did not bring you here to lead a rebellion against me. They brought you her because I commanded them to. I thought that the prospect of overthrowing the Dark Undersea Master and becoming a queen would entice you to come to my castle, but I was incorrect."_

"_Why would I want to be queen of the Dark World?" she hissed._

"_Dark World? Ha, you truly know nothing of this place. The Dark World is far more desolate than this place. It is an awesome and fear evoking place. This is nothing in comparison. I can teach you everything about it, as well as this place."_

"_Would you stop with this polite bullshit act? Quit speaking like you're from the sixteenth century."_

"_We evil creatures tend to be polite. I doubt I can say that for you humans, however. My 'polite bullshit act' is one that I have grown accustomed too. I see no reason to be rude to either my friends or enemies. Things tend to run smoother when people speak politely."_

_Kari stared at him in disbelief. This guy had to be smoking something. She watched as he looked her over with a critical eye. "What?" she finally demanded._

"_It's true; you have maintained the same innocence and purity as when you protected the Digital World. Well, maybe not so much innocence in all cases, you are an adult now."_

"_Just what are you suggesting?" _

_Daemon wrapped his tentacle around Kari's waist, preventing her from backing away from him. A Scubamon walked by, catching his attention. "They are so unappealing in that form are they not? I can only imagine you find me ghastly in this mutated body."_

"_This isn't your true form?" she asked, trying to keep him talking. Talking was safer than anything else._

"_Indeed not. I am no digimon, nor are my servants Scubamon." Daemon's eyes widened. "No!" he growled. "Don't wake up!" Kari felt herself fading away from his grasp._

(0)

Kari jumped as she woke up. She was shivering violently, still feeling his closeness and the darkness of the previous surroundings. Gatomon stirred beside her. "Kari, are you alright?" she whispered, fearing she'd wake the others.

"I'm fine," Kari whispered back. She looked around; Joe was sleeping peacefully, which meant that Izzy must be on watch. Sure enough, the computer genius was sitting against a tree a short distance off, his laptop sitting faithfully in his lap.

Kari stood and motioned for Gatomon to follow her. "Izzy?"

Izzy looked up at his laptop. "Oh, Kari, what are you doing awake?"

"Do you still have that Digimon Analyzer on your laptop?"

"Yep, why do you ask?"

Kari hesitated. She didn't want to worry Izzy but she didn't want to straight out lie. "I wanted to look up some information on a digimon."

Izzy patted the ground next to him. Kari sat down beside him and watched as he loaded up the program. "Just type in the name of the digimon, and press enter," he dictated as he passed the laptop over to Kari.

Kari hid the screen from Izzy as she looked up the bio on the Scubamon. She needed a location of where Scubamon lived in the Digital World. She quickly closed the menu and passed the laptop back to its rightful owner. "Thanks Iz, I owe you one. I need to go somewhere, but I'll be back by morning."

"Where are you going?" Izzy asked urgently.

"I have to check something out. I'll be fine, don't worry. I'll be back before any one wakes up."

"And if you aren't?"

"Stall…?" Kari scooped Gatomon into her arms and turned away, leaving a confused Izzy in her wake.

"Where are we going?" Gatomon asked when they had gotten some distance from the team.

"The beach," she replied solemnly. "I need to speak with the Scubamon."

"You want to go to the Dark Ocean!"

Kari petted the top of her digimon partner's head. "Of course not, there are Scubamon in the Digiworld, too."

The beach wasn't very far from where they originated. They were still being guided by the light of the moon; morning was not yet threatening to appear.

A row of shacks lined where the grass ended and the sand began. Inside were families of Scubamon, who were awakened by approaching footsteps.

The leader of the group went out to meet Kari. "What do you want outsider? You are not welcome here; there is no place for you to stay."

Kari set Gatomon down by her feet. "I need to speak with you about the Dark Ocean. About the creatures that have taken your form there."

The Scubamon looked thoughtful. After taking a long while to decide he finally spoke. "Come inside, I will tell you what you want to know."

Kari and Gatomon followed the leader into the largest of the shacks. Several other Scubamon were waiting idly, waiting for their leader's instructions. Gatomon looked up at Kari. She hoped that she knew what she was doing.

"The origins of the Dark Ocean are unimportant for now. All that you need to know is that the god of the Dark World went there in an attempt to breakthrough to the other worlds. He used his dark energy to darken the Ocean, thus preventing any of the other world leaders from entering it. He was unable to open any portals into the other worlds, however. We Scubamon are dark digimon and have the ability to enter the Dark Ocean. Our brethren were killed because the Dark World leader thought he could use the power of the digimon to break down the barriers. Unfortunately for him, the data of the slain digimon combined with him and his servants, mutating their bodies. When the digidestined fought for the sake of the Digital World, the worlds were sealed off from each other. Daemon, the name he gave his demented form, was trapped within the boundaries of that world."

"And now he wants to get out," Kari concluded.

"Yes, but in order to do so, he must regain his true form. He is searching for the Pendant of Narnium; it is the key to his reformation."

"Where is this pendant hidden?" Gatomon asked.

"I do not know that. I do not even know if it truly exists, or if it is merely a myth."

"Thank you for your help," Kari said. She noticed that the sun was rising in the sky. "I'd better be going."

(0)

"Izzy, I thought you were going to wake me up so that I could be on guard!"

"I'm sorry, I must have forgotten." Izzy looked around nervously. Everyone had begun to wake up and there was still no sign of Kari.

"I don't really mind that he didn't wake you," Veemon said.

"I did," Yolie shouted. "If he were awake then he wouldn't have been snoring!"

"Hey guys, has anyone seen Kari?" Tai asked.

Izzy looked back towards the direction Kari had left in. "Maybe she took a walk?"

"She wouldn't have left without telling anyone."

"Well, I, um, that is…" Izzy gulped as Tai approached him.

"Where is she?" he asked in a threatening tone.

"She left somewhere, she wouldn't say where exactly."

"When?"

"A few hours ago. About two hours into my shift, four, maybe."

Tai grabbed Izzy by the collar. "And when were you going to mention this?"

"She said she'd be back by morning," Izzy calmly returned.

"Well she isn't here!" Tai was startled by a sudden beeping noise.

"Sorry, that's me," Tk said, quickly grabbing the D-terminal. He read it over. "Tai, Kari says that if Izzy exhibits any signs of physical abuse, she's going to kick your ass. She's on her way back now."

Tai grabbed the D-terminal and read the message over. "Why did she leave in the first place?" he growled.

"She went that way, if you'd care to know," Izzy said quietly, pointing his finger towards where Kari and Gatomon had gone.

"Well, let's get going," Matt suggested.

"Yeah, and she better have a pretty damn good reason for leaving like that. You'd think that after yesterday she would have some common sense not to venture out alone."

"Tai, you know Kari, she'll have a reason, just relax," Tk advised.

The group set off following Kari's lead. Tai was caught between being worried and infuriated. He was just glad that Gatomon was with her.

(0)

Kari crouched down besides Gatomon. "I sent Tk an e-mail, hopefully Tai won't be too angry."

"You should be worried about Izzy being mad at you. He's the one in danger of a beating." Gatomon jumped into her partner's arms as Kari stood back up. "Kari?"

"Yes, Gatomon?"

"What made you want to come talk to the Scubamon? How did you even know that there were Scubamon in the Digital World?" When Kari avoided the question, Gatomon became slightly upset. "Why do you insist on keeping secrets from me? We're partners, remember? Do you not trust me?"

"Of course I trust you! It's just… confusing. I don't want to worry you about something that might end up being nothing."

"I'll be more worried not knowing; I have a hundred ideas running through my head right now, and most are probably worse than what you could say. Please, just tell me."

"Okay, I had a dream last night. I was in the Dark Ocean, in the undersea palace… with Daemon."

"And?" Gatomon prompted.

"He told me that he wasn't really a digimon. I think that I woke up before he told me why he had brought me there."

"I think I have a right to worry about that! Did he do anything, and don't lie to me."

"No," Kari assured her. "We just talked. I really don't know what he wants from me. And until I find out, I want you to promise me that you won't say anything to the others, especially Tk or Ken."

Gatomon looked into her human companion's crimson eyes. "Alright, I won't say anything. But if anything happens, I'm going straight to Tk and Ken."

Kari nodded slightly. She just hoped that her friends need not be involved.

Suddenly, the trees behind the two were sliced in half. Kari turned around and saw a Kuwagamon gliding down towards them. He circled around, slicing up several more trees in the process.

Kari took off running, narrowly missing the 'Scissor Claw' attack right behind her. Gatomon jumped down and ran beside Kari so that they could move faster. "Maybe this wasn't sure a good idea after all," Kari said as she dodged another 'Scissor Claw.' "Why is he attacking us?"

"No idea," Gatomon huffed as she barely avoided being caught between Kuwagamon's pinchers. "I don't suggest we stay to find out, though."

Relief washed over the white feline when she saw eleven humans and eleven digimon headed their way. It was quickly returned to fear, however, as she realized that she was the strongest digimon present. She'd fight if she had to, so long as Kari was safe.

The digidestined saw Kari and Gatomon being chased by a Kuwagamon. "Kari!" Tai screamed. He knew that something like this was going to happen. He just hoped he could protect her.

"Run!" Kari screamed, throwing her arms forward to get them going. The group obliged as soon as she was close enough to them.

Davis looked back at the red insectoid digimon. There were no visible rings or spirals or anything that could be controlling him. He couldn't have been a control spire, since they were all destroyed. He slowed down enough so that he was the closest to Kari. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side, saving her from a 'Scissor Claw' attack.

"Thanks," Kari whispered, lying on the ground beside Davis.

"Anytime," he returned with a playful smile. Davis set his hand down on the ground to pull himself up. A piercing pain shot through the palm of his hand. "Ouch!"

Davis drew his hand away and found what offending object had stabbed at him. It was a bracelet, with a simple charm attached. The charm, shaped like the Crest of Miracles, had been what he'd put his hand on. Davis picked up the bracelet and examined the charm. In the center was a circle, surrounded by triangles, except for at the top, which was more tear-drop shaped.

"Vee Head Butt!"

Davis's attention was drawn back to the giant digimon ready to close in on him. Veemon had jumped in just in time to keep Kuwagamon from closing his pinchers around Kari and Davis. Kari yanked Davis to his feet and pulled him along. "Wait," Davis insisted.

Tai and the others had stopped running when they saw Davis and Kari go down. "Get over here!" Ken insisted.

Davis shook his head. "Veemon, you want to take care of this guy."

Veemon looked at Davis with uncertainty. "I'm willing to try," he said, avoiding Kuwagamon's large body.

The charm in Davis' hand started to glow. Veemon felt a surge of power overwhelm his. "Veemon transform to… Shoku Spirit Periveemon!"

"Woah," Davis gawked, staring at the new version of Veemon. He was slightly taller than Flamdramon had been, his body resembled that of Exveemon, his skin was ocean blue in color, and his chest and upper arms were covered by armor that had painted flames on it.

"Perivee Blast!" Periveemon shouted. He brought his hands together in front of himself and a ball of fire grew between them. He threw his hand s forward and the flame shot out as a beam.

Kuwagamon was bathed in red light. A final screech was heard before his body was diminished into tiny specks of data.

Periveemon returned to Veemon and collapsed to his knees. "What a rush," he sad in a tired voice. "Can I get something to eat now?"

Davis ran and hugged Veemon. "That was awesome!" he shouted. He quickly fastened the bracelet around his wrist. "I wonder what this charm thingy is, anyway."

(0)

Author's Note: Sigh, this chapter sucks. I can admit to that.

JyouraKoumi, I don't know if you're still reading this, but I checked out your homepage like you said. I'm not really sure what you wanted me to see. I read (or tried to read) the paragraph written in there, but I'm not fluent in slang. Would you mind translating what you wanted me to know in normal people speech?

Can anyone tell me what the C2's are about? I know that a person can create one, the managers, I guess, but I'm curious to know what the staff is supposed to do, how people get their stories in a C2, anything about it at all, really.

I did say that the first chapter of Return of the Kaiser was going to be posted before another chapter of this story. I'm working on it, but you ever have the problem where you really don't want to write certain parts but can't wait for other parts? I'm stuck at one of the parts I don't care to write. But I'm forcing myself through it.

I've got the first fifteen chapters of this story planned out, they should all be about the same length. I've hit a bit of writer's block, but by the time I reach chapter fifteen, it'll definitely be gone.

I don't think I've got much else for you, I hope I'm not confusing anyone too much, I'm trying to keep everything a mystery until it needs to be revealed.

Oh, and don't be shy, review! Please?

Jillie062


	4. Calib

Hi. Want to know something really annoying? You write a chapter, you use spell check, you read through to check for errors, and there are still problems with it when you look at it on the site. It drives me insane!

Oh, whenever people speak in English, their words will be in italics. That's all for now, enjoy chapter four.

**Adventures of the Tainted**

**Chapter Four: Calib**

"My Lord, you have returned; I heard that you were looking for me yesterday." A tall, muscular human with brunette colored hair and black eyes approached the figure in his throne room.

"Yes, I have a job for you, are you up to it?"

"I'd do anything to serve you, My Lord."

"Good, then listen closely. I cannot stay in the Dark World for long, my current body is linked to the Dark Ocean and I must return there soon. I want you to join up with the digidestined, learn what you can about them."

"But Daemon, My Lord, won't they be able to sense that I am from the Dark World?"

Daemon handed his servant a vile. "This is Essence of Angel. It contains data of a digital angel. If you put it on you than they will think you are a holy creature, or it will cover your dark aura, at least."

One of the creatures that lived in the castle came rushing into the throne room. It looked like the creatures that lived in the Dark Ocean, except his body was solid looking and did not reflect light. (Again, not the Scubamon, what the Scubamon turned into after Kari freed them and they left the cave.) It was a Glist, a Dark World creature.

"Lord Daemon, I bring news about the pendant."

"What have you found out?"

"The pendant you are seeking is the Pendant of Narnium."

"And where is it located?"

"I do not know. All that I could find was that it is hidden within the heart of the chosen angel of all four worlds. But that would be impossible, since the same angel could not represent both the Dark and Light worlds."

"Keep searching for more information," Daemon commanded. The Glist bowed and left the throne room.

"Shall I leave now?" Daemon's servant asked.

"Not yet, I'm going to send an opponent in their direction. I want you to intervene when he has finished his job."

"Very well, My Lord." The servant bowed his head and Daemon reopened the void and returned to the Dark Ocean.

(0)

The digidestined had been able to find some fruit in the section of the woods they were in. It wasn't much, but everyone got enough to eat. Veemon replenished his energy and both he and Davis were ready to talk about what had happened. Veemon was answering questions about the digivolution while Davis was bragging about his partner's new abilities.

"Yeah, that's right, Ken. I've got the totally awesome digimon that can digivolve! How does that make you feel?"

"Davis, that's wonderful, but if you don't shut up I will be forced to hurt you."

"Oh, you're so jealous! Admit it!"

Ken took a step towards Davis, sending him a threatening look. Davis jumped back and ran off, deciding that it was time to annoy Tk instead.

Tai watched with mild amusement as Davis jumped around Tk, succeeding at his attempts to annoy the poor teen. In the excitement of recent events, he had forgotten his intentions to yell at his sister for running off. He remembered, however, when he saw Kari sitting with Gatomon a short distance away from the group.

Walking over to her, Tai suddenly thought of his dream again. _Tai I don't have a fever, I can see monsters on TV, and I have been to Digiworld. Well, I think I got there through…_

"Tai?" Tai reentered reality with the sound of his sister's voice. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"What, oh yeah, I'm fine. What happened earlier, why did you run off?"

Kari looked down at Gatomon as she stood up with the white feline in her arms. She didn't want to have to tell Tai about the Scubamon, not when she knew he would go into psycho overprotective brother mode. Gatomon realized Kari's fears and did the first thing she could think of. "Cat's Eye Hypnotism!"

"Gatomon!" Kari scolded, "what are you doing!"

"What were we talking about?" Tai asked with a confused look on his face.

"You were asking Kari what she thought about Periveemon," Gatomon explained.

"Oh, right…" Tai didn't look fully convinced. "What do you think about it?" he asked slowly.

"It's kind of cool, I guess. It was lucky, that's for sure."

"Uh, Tai?" Tai turned around and found himself face to face with Matt. "Would you mind doing something about that girlfriend of yours? She's going to drive everyone to be homicidal."

"Me? She isn't talking to me right now, remember?"

"Well now is as good a time as any to make up."

"Yeah," Kari added. "You should kiss and make up now."

Tai looked at the two who had teamed up against him. Didn't they know that Sora was unapproachable when she was pissed off? He sighed in defeat. "I'll try." He started to walk away, but saw that Matt made no movements to follow him. Remembering Yolie and Mimi's dares, Tai didn't want to leave the two of them alone. "Matt, why don't you go and stop Davis from driving Tk to the brink of insanity?"

Matt saw that Davis was still taunting Tk about the digivolution and Tk was pulling at his sleeves. "That might be a good idea," he said before rushing off to meet them.

Tai made his way over to Sora. She was leaning against a tree with her eyes shut. "Sora?"

"What do you want Taichi?" She asked coldly, not finding him important enough to waste energy opening her eyes for.

Tai considered how to approach the situation. It would more than likely end badly if he wasn't careful. He decided that small talk was the best way to start off. "How are you doing?"

"I was contently resting in a quiet atmosphere, but now I'm being forced to answer your pointless questioning. Is there something you want or are you just her to annoy me?"

"I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry. Please don't be angry with me." Tai sat down beside Sora and took her hands. "Come on, you can't stay mad at me forever, I'm too cute."

Forgiving Tai would mean that she wouldn't have to remember why she was angry with him in the first place, and he'd be there to protect her from any wild digimon that might attack them. She leaned against him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You're forgiven," she replied. He smiled, obviously relieved, and bent down to kiss her.

"I say that we take on Ladymiramon now and give her what's coming to her!"

"First off Davis, we don't know how this new digivolution works. We don't know what level Periveemon is at, either. Kuwagamon was one of the weaker champion digimon, so we can't say for sure if he has the power of a normal ultimate. And we don't know what level Ladymiramon is, she could be a mega for all we know," Izzy tried to reason.

"So what?" Davis asked. "Veemon can handle whatever is thrown at him."

"Care to test that out?" A Cyclonemon approached the group. Each step the massive dragon digimon took made the ground shake. He had a tan colored body with brown lines running across his skin, the top half of his head was structured by brown bone with a horn sticking out from the middle of his forehead, his right shoulder had spiky bone armor on it, the entire arm was larger than the other and his claws on the paw were red instead of brown. He walked on all fours with his tail slicing the air back and forth with each step.

Davis looked over to Izzy. "Do you know who he is?"

Izzy quickly went through the Digimon Analyzer. "He's called Cyclonemon; he's a champion, a strong one."

Davis smirked. A champion, that should be easy enough. He held up the charm. "Are you ready Veemon?"

"Yeah!"

"Alright then, here we go!" Davis waited for the charm to react, but nothing happened. He looked down at Veemon.

"I'm ready," Veemon insisted.

"It isn't working," Davis whispered.

Cyclonemon laughed. "Like you said, this should be easy enough. I'll give you all five seconds to run."

Tai grabbed Sora's arm and pulled her to her feet. He ushered everyone backwards. "No," Davis said, holding his ground. "It'll work, I'm sure of it."

"Until then we need to get out of here! Stop being stubborn!"

"Hyper Heat!" A wave of heat shot out of Cyclonemon's mouth. Tai pushed Davis and himself out of the way just before they were reduced to charred skin and bones.

"Okay, maybe we should get out of here," Davis finally agreed. He ran beside Tai, following the rest of the group as they made their way through the trees.

"Arm Bomber!" Cyclonemon's enlarged front arm circled around and shot off three bombs. They landed right ahead of the digidestined, knocking them all backwards.

Kari was thrown backwards into Ken, making them both fall to the ground. "Are you alright?" he asked.

"I've been better," Kari responded, rubbing the side of her arm.

Ken stood and helped Kari to her feet. The group slowly found its way forward again, avoiding the holes in the ground. "Arm Bomber!" This time, Ken found himself being slammed against a tree. He put his hand against the bark, feeling a sharp point sticking out. He investigated the spot and found a tiny charm just barely sticking out.

As Ken pulled the charm out, he noticed that it was shaped like the Crest of Kindness. It looked like a comma divided into a circle, sideways crescent moon, and backwards crescent moon. It began to glow when Ken tied the attached bracelet around his wrist.

Wormmon felt a strange sensation take over him. "Wormmon transform to… Shoku Spirit Stingkumon!"

When the surrounding light died down around Wormmon, a new digimon stood in his place. He had a body very similar to Stingmon's, except tough black skin covered his body, his shins, elbows, back, and head were covered in metal, and he had four large gray wings sticking out of his upper back.

"Cool…" Ken whispered.

Stingkumon flew forward as Cyclonemon advanced towards the digidestined. "Leave now and I will spare you your life. You will not win a battle against me."

"Quitting is not an option. If you weren't exposed to those humans and their ignorance, you would realize that the Digital World is unbalanced. Things in this world are changing, and I'm going to be on the side that will prevail. I will prove my worth by defeating you and killing those humans before they find any more Charms of Suduko."

"Charms of Suduko?" Izzy questioned.

"Later, Iz," Tai advised.

"Enough of this, we shall fight and find out who the stronger of us is. Are you ready?"

Stingkumon nodded his head and sped around Cyclonemon. He moved so fast that Cyclonemon could barely keep up with his movements. "Kushun Strike!" A long rod extended out from Stingkumon's wrist, jabbing into Cyclonemon's side.

The dragon digimon opened his mouth and shot an attack at Stingkumon from the close range. "Hyper Heat!" Stingkumon was knocked backward, taking down several trees as he collided with the nature around him.

He stood up from the rubble and flew back towards Cyclonemon. "Shun-ku Meteor!" Fragments of meteors plummeted down to the ground onto Cyclonemon. He howled in agony as the meteors town into his skin. One piece, about the size of a fist, pierced through Cyclonemon's heart and he exploded into data.

Stingkumon dedigivolved back to Wormmon. "I did it!" he chirped happily.

"You really showed him," Ken agreed. "How do you feel?"

"Exhausted, but otherwise I'm peachy." Ken chuckled lightly as he picked up his digimon partner.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Tai screamed suddenly, turning his attention to Davis. "Were you trying to get yourself killed?"

"I, um, well…"

"You nearly got yourself incinerated, not to mention the fact that you almost got everyone else here killed. What in God's name were you thinking!"

"Back off, Tai," Davis warned. "How was I supposed to know that Veemon wouldn't be able to digivolve?"

"Regardless, you should learn to be more responsible for your actions!"

"Fine! You know what? I'm going to be plenty responsible for my actions; first action, Veemon and I are leaving!" Davis turned on his heel and stomped off. Veemon ran to catch up.

"Are you just going to let him go?" Kari asked. "With everything that is out there?"

"The kid needs to grow up," Tai retorted.

"You've done plenty of idiotic things in your lifetime, Taichi; I can't believe that you think that you have the right to pass judgment on Davis."

Kari ran after Davis. "Kari, wait!"

"Let Hika go, Tai," Mimi spoke up. "She's right; Davis shouldn't be off on his own."

Tai sighed in defeat. He looked around at the other digidestined and knew that they all wanted to say the same thing: Tai was just as reckless when he first led the digidestined team years ago.

"We probably shouldn't let them get too far, it isn't safe around here," Ken said. Tai glared at him. "What? I'm right."

"I'm not disagreeing," Tai responded, still glaring.

Mimi noticed the tension between the two for the first time. She knew that Tai and Ken didn't get along very well, but she had never asked Kari for the details. She'd have to remember to do that sometime or another. "Maybe we should start heading their way now; knowing Davis, it won't take too long for Hika to convince him to come back."

(0)

He watched with little interest as the two leaders argued. "Earth humans are so strange," he mused, "they are driven by their emotions to the point where they'd lose their allies just so they could have the last word."

He pulled a vile out his pocket, the Essence of Angel that Daemon had given him. A vortex appeared beside him and a digimon came through. "Put that on," the digimon said.

He opened the vile and tapped a few drops of the liquid above his head. It sank into him and covered his dark aura. "How am supposed to know if this is strong enough?"

"We will see soon enough" the digimon replied. He was an artificial digimon, one of the toys Puppetmon had made. He was called Archormon, a short humanoid digimon with a green cape and a leotard over his body. A quiver of arrows and his trusted bow were strapped onto his back.

"So what is the plan?"

"This arrow," he said, removing a black arrow and his bow, "is meant for the girl who represents the Light. I will shoot her with this and you will come and save the day. Gain their trust and find out whatever it is you need to know."

"Couldn't the arrow kill her?"

"Only if you are not quick enough to react. I know you want to please Daemon, so I'm sure there won't be any problems." Archormon jumped up into the tree above him and hopped from branch to branch towards the two teens.

(0)

"Davis would you wait up!" Kari pleaded, running to catch up with him.

He stopped abruptly, and Kari narrowly missed colliding with him. "Go back with Tai and the others, Kari. You'll be safer with them."

"Could you not be so stubborn for about two minutes? Tai didn't mean what he said, you know that."

"But he was right! I could have gotten someone killed!"

"So running off by yourself and getting yourself killed is the answer? Be reasonable, Davis. You aren't going to prove anything by doing this."

Davis sighed. "You don't understand. I'm supposed to be the new chosen leader. I'm supposed to make decisions to help the team and keep everyone safe. But can I do that? Of course not; I have to act like a twelve-year-old and rush into things without thinking."

Several leaves fell from the trees around them. They looked up and saw a flash of dark green jump from the tree above them to a nearby one. "My name is Archormon," the archer digimon said. He drew his black arrow and put it against his bow.

The other digidestined were spotted a short distance away. Archormon growled, he didn't like being rushed; torture was so much more enjoyable when it was slow and painful.

Noticing the digimon up in the trees, the digidestined quickened their paces. Archormon pulled back the string on his bow and let the arrow fly freely towards its target.

Davis grabbed Kari by the arms and whirled her around. He turned just in time to be struck in the chest by the black arrow. "Not exactly what I was aiming for, but it will do just the same," Archormon said, taking off before having to face the remaining members of the group.

"Davis!" Kari screamed, collapsing beside him.

Davis lay motionless on his back. It hurt to breath, seeing as the arrow had pierced through his lung. "I'm good," he choked out, forcing a smile onto his face.

"Daisuke, you idiot! Why would you do something so stupid?" Tears streamed down Kari's cheeks and landed softly on the ground. That arrow had been meant for her, Davis shouldn't have gotten in the way.

"I always wanted to go out in a memorable way, I just didn't think it would be so soon-" Davis paused to cough up blood. "I can die happy so long as I know that you're okay."

"You aren't going to die," Kari whispered.

Tai sat himself down beside his younger sister. "Davis… we have to get this out. I saw on TV once that you're supposed to push it all the way through, break off the arrow head, and pull the rest out."

"Don't you dare," Davis hissed.

"I'm only guessing," Joe said, "but it looks as though the arrow just missed his heart. It had to have pierced his lung; we need to get him to a hospital really soon."

"Oh I'll just call an ambulance and have them pick his up here," Tai snapped.

"Hold him still." Kari looked up and saw a handsome brunette with dark eyes sit opposite of her. "This is going to hurt a bit."

Kari took Davis' hand into her own and waited for the newcomer to act. She cringed and turned away as he pulled the arrow out from Davis. Davis screamed bloody murder, and whispered a few obscenities, before coughing up more blood.

"You'll be alright," the brunette assured the injured teen. He put his hand over the wound and a light shot out of his palm into the wound. It shrank in size until only a tiny 'v' shaped scar remained as proof of the incident.

"I guess you're stuck with me a while longer, after all," Davis joked before passing out.

Kari let out a deep sigh of relief. "Who are you?" she asked.

"My name is Calib," the brunette responded.

"Uh, thanks for whatever you did," Tai spoke up.

"Don't mention it," Calib said, his eyes still locked on Kari. She smiled at him before returning her attention to Davis. "He'll be fine after some rest," he assured her.

The group set up camp around Davis, knowing that the poor boy wasn't going to get up for anything. Mimi pulled Kari to the side while Calib became acquainted with the guys.

"_So what do you think of Calib_," Mimi asked, speaking in English so that the others couldn't listen in on their conversation.

"_I think that we were really lucky that he showed up when he did. If Davis hadn't been helped… I don't even want to think about it_."

"_That was a lucky break_," Mimi agreed. _"And_ _such a handsome one, don't ya think_?"

"_Meems, please don't start on that. The last thing I want to think about right now is guys_."

"_Is that because of Davis' selfless act of love or because of that blonde beauty, Matt?"_

"_What are you talking about?" _

"_Oh come on now, Hika, I know you well enough to know when you're interested. Besides, reading peoples' attraction to other people is my thing, I'm good at it."_

"_Whatever Meems."_

"What do you suppose they're talking about?" Tk asked. He, along with Ken, Tai, Izzy, Matt, and Calib, were standing in a circle, trying to listen in to their conversation.

"I don't know, but I heard Matt and Davis' names mentioned" Tai said. "Izzy, you're the genius, you should be able to understand English."

"You want to know the extent of my English? _My name is Izzy, in the morning I shower, I brush my teeth, and I eat breakfast. Then I go to school and then I go home._ That's about all I know."

"Did you just list your morning routine?" Ken inquired. Izzy nodded.

Kari and Mimi turned their heads and gave Izzy a questioning look before Mimi broke into a fit of giggles. "That's impressive, Iz. You'd make it no problem in New York."

"Hey, I know a large variety of vocabulary about household appliances, school situations, and commands. Here's one: _Kiss my ass._"

"What did he say?" Tai asked.

"No clue," Tk responded. "I was never required to do well in my English classes. I just copied Kari's homework and crammed for tests and quizzes."

Yolie watched as Kari and Mimi talked like they had been best friends since the womb. She couldn't help but feel jealous; gorgeous Mimi had stolen her only close friend. She sank down in the grass with the digimon, sulking as she watched Mimi and Kari talking with the boys.

Kari suddenly had a strange feeling. _"Mind keeping everyone entertained for a bit?"_

"_Sure, any particular reason why?"_

"_I'm not sure yet, I'll let you know."_

Mimi diverted the boys' attention by telling them a story about her misadventures at the Cat Scratch Club. She had thought it was a pet store, but boy was she mistaken.

Kari tried to be inconspicuous as she wandered off to an isolated area. The same strange feeling sent chills through her body. The scenery around her diminished to nothing but blackness. She felt a pair of strong arms wrapping around her from behind, though she could not turn to see a face. Her body felt numb and she wasn't sure how she was still standing.

"Hello, Hikari."

That voice! It was the same one she had heard when she first returned to the Digital World. It still seemed so familiar, yet she could not put a face to the voice. "Where are we?" she asked.

"I have brought you between time and space so that we could speak." His grip tightened around her as he spoke.

"Speak? What about?"

"About your new friend, Calib. No doubt you suspect that he is not everything that he appears to be."

"Why would you think that?" she asked, trying to look behind her to see his face. She could not turn her head, however.

"Don't you think that it is a little too convenient that right after you and your friend were attacked, Archormon runs off and Calib shows up, magically able to heal your friend?"

"It did seem like an unlikely stretch, but I'm not going to complain. Davis is safe, so I don't really care about the convenience."

"But what if I told you that he was waiting for you to be attacked so that he could come in and appear to be a saint? His aura is unusually pure for a human, don't you agree?"

"So what?"

"The aura that surrounds him is a fake; he is using the data of angel digimon to mask his dark energy."

"Why are you telling me this? Isn't he on your side?"

"My side?"

"You know, the bad guys."

"What makes you think that I'm one of the bad guys?" he asked, one hand rose to her throat.

She waited for him to do something, but he paused again. "Good guys don't hide their identities."

"But we've already talked about this; I am neither good nor evil. Don't you remember?"

"No. Maybe if you'd let me go and show me your face, I'd be able to recognize you."

"Maybe I don't want to let you go. Maybe I'm just going to hold onto you forever."

"I doubt that," she said, somewhat coldly. "I'm going to find out your motives sooner or later."

"When I want you to," he responded. "For now, just beware of Daemon's servant."

The trees and grass around Kari slowly reappeared as the darkness around her faded. Her body was no longer paralyzed. She turned, but found no one there. She could feel a dark energy coming from the group. Calib, she realized.

She walked up to him slowly, sensing a pure aura coming from inside his pockets. She stood in front of him and slapped him across the face.

He looked surprised more than anything else. "What, may I ask, was that for?"

Kari reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the vile. She popped of the top and let the contents spill onto the ground. "How many digimon did you kill to make this?" she asked.

Calib's face darkened and a sneer formed. "I really don't know, it was a gift."

"So you really are just a secondhand servant after all," she hissed coldly.

"Secondhand? I assure you that I am first class. I am his most trusted servant."

"Well, why don't you go tell your master that his plan failed."

Tai looked at his sister with wide eyes. He had never seen his sister slap anyone, and to think that she would slap someone who saved Davis was unthinkable. "Kari, what the hell are you doing?"

"This _thing_ is Daemon's servant. Archormon's attack was a setup so that we would trust him."

_Tai I don't have a fever, I can see monsters on TV, and I have been to Digiworld._ Tai let out an aggravated sigh as he forced the memory away. "It that true?" he asked Calib.

"For the most part," he said, still smiling darkly. "I'm afraid that I must be off now, but you can expect to see me soon." Before anyone could react, Calib disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"How did you know that he was deceiving us?" Tk asked Kari.

"I, uh," she couldn't tell him the truth, he'd freak out. "I sense his dark aura, and I sort of figured it out."

The others seemed satisfied with the answer; although Tai was beginning to suspect that something was going on that he didn't know about. _Well, I think I got there through…_

(0)

"Why did you expose Daemon's scheme to her?" Ladymiramon asked her ally after he returned from speaking with Kari.

"I need for him to move along a little faster. The digidestined knowing about Calib will force him to work more efficiently. He has found out what pendant he seeks, but is still ignorant to its location. If it is so damn important to him, he should focus on finding it."

"Do you know where it is?"

"Of course I do."

"Then why don't you tell him?"

"I want to see him figure it out on his own; the location couldn't be more obvious if he looks at the clues from the right perspective."

"I am going to speak with Daemon now, find out his next move." Ladymiramon bowed before opening a vortex into the Dark Ocean.

"Don't worry Hikari," he said to himself, "soon we'll meet in person and you'll see just who I am. Won't you be surprised?" He smiled darkly at the idea. "Soon," he assured.

(0)

"Lord Daemon, are you here?"

"Calib? What are you doing back already?"

"Lord Daemon, the girl, Kari, she was able to tell that I wasn't who I said I was. I had to leave before I could find out anything important."

Daemon struck his arm against a pillar, causing the entire castle to shake.

"Now, now, Daemon, watch your temper." Ladymiramon appeared before him.

"This seriously messes with my plans!" Daemon growled.

"You'll just have to work faster," Ladymiramon replied. "Have you made any progress on finding the pendant?"

"No, the clue would put it in an impossible location. It must be flawed."

"Or perhaps you aren't looking at it the right way?" she suggested.

"Is there a particular reason you came here?" Calib asked.

"I wanted to let Daemon know that I'm going to be sending one of my minions to take care of Peace and Serenity. That won't interfere with any of your plans, will it, Daemon?"

"No, go right ahead. Just make sure that you don't mess with Hikari. She is essential to my plans."

"Why she would be I cannot understand. Of well, do what you wish with the girl." Ladymiramon gave a short farewell before leaving the desolate ocean.

"What shall I do now?" Calib asked Daemon.

"I need your help in locating the pendant. It lies within the heart of the chosen angel of all four worlds…"

(0)

Author's Note: This chapter was a bit shorter than the previous three. Sorry. And I didn't have time to read it over to check for errors, so there are probably are a few. I wanted to get this posted before Dayton, though.

Can you say Circuit Champion? That's right; I've got a gold metal! Yay for my guard and me! World Championships, here we come! Except I hurt my finger at practice and it really, really, really hurts. :(

In the last chapter there was a one through five system. Basically, Kari and Yolie used it as a reverse of the normal 5 is the best and 1 is the worst, so that no one but them would know how they rated people for whatever reason. So, say Yama was the best kisser (which of course he is), he would get the lowest score instead of the highest. It was to crush the guys' egos more than anything else, or make them think they're awesome when they aren't. Does that clear everything up? Sorry 'bout the confusion.

About the sequel to Shattered… it's coming, really it is. When I had the idea for Shattered, it was before school started, and I planned it all out in my head at that time. I wrote the fic based on memory. The same goes for the sequel, except I don't really remember all the details, just the major events, so I'm having trouble remembering all the crap I'm supposed to be writing.

Don't you all just love Davis right now?

Next chapter will explain the Charms of Suduko and all that jazz. Also, you may just find out who Peace and Serenity are. Wondering who the mystery enemy is that Kari seems to know? You've still got a while before he's going to be exposed :)

HOW AM I DOING? SUGGESTIONS, COMMENTS, FLAMES, I'LL TAKE ANYTHING!

REVIEW It makes me happy ;) Seriously. ten per chapter, that's my goal!

Jillie062


	5. The Pendant of Narnium

I'm really starting to get into this, fic; I'm not quite sure what I've put myself into, but I like doing it. I'm back from Dayton. We got first! GC is the number one winter guard in our division in the world! YAY!

**Adventures of the Tainted**

**Chapter Five: The Pendant of Narnium**

Izzy sat himself down on one of the fallen trees from their earlier battle. "We need some answers," he said to know one in particular.

"That's a fantastic idea, Iz. Maybe we could ask the next digimon that attacks us what it is they're after. Or better yet, let's contact Ladymiramon and ask her why we're here. She brought us, after all."

"There's no need for all that attitude, Tai," Izzy responded calmly. "I was simply implying that Gennai might be able to help us."

_Tai, I don't have a fever, I can see monsters on TV, and I have been to Digiworld!_ Tai rubbed the side of his forehead with irritation.

"Don't you recognize where we are?" Izzy continued.

Tai looked around: fallen trees and more wreckage was all he could see. "Nope."

"We are right near the lake that Gennai has his house in."

"Seriously?" Yolie asked. She remembered the young and handsome Gennai, someone she wouldn't mind running into again. "Hey! Maybe he has a shower!"

Mimi giggled. "Yolie, haven't you noticed the benefits of being stuck in the Digital World for an extended period of time? We don't get dirty or smell or anything. Showers aren't really a major priority when we're going to stay like we were when we first arrived."

"That's excluding how dirty our clothes get from running and being attack," Joe added. "Besides, that's only true if time is moving faster in the Digital World than in our world."

"Could we focus on the more important issue? Like, maybe the charms and new digivolution? Gennai is our best bet for finding out anything useful. If Davis is up to it of course," he added.

Davis lifted his head slightly. He was lying down on the ground and didn't feel like making the effort of moving very much. Getting shot took more energy out of a guy than he would have guessed. He was grateful to that Calib guy, even if he turned out to be one of the baddies. "Can't we sleep for a few more days?"

"He's fine," Yolie insisted. "Unless you want to stay here and Kari and I will go find that super hot Gennai guy?" she asked Davis.

"Nope!" Davis shouted, pulling himself into a sitting position. "I'm up now."

Yolie rolled her eyes as Davis stood up. She found it rather amazing that he was suddenly fine, able to move and walk at the same pace as everyone else.

"_So where did you go yesterday?"_ Mimi asked.

"_What are you talking about?"_ Kari responded, letting the two of them fall to the back of the group.

"_You had me keep the guys busy while you went off somewhere…right before you exposed Calib."_

"_I don't know what you're talking about, I wasn't anywhere."_

"_Don't bullshit me, Hika. I might not understand all the freaky shit that has happened in the Digital World, but when I have to tell Tai about my misadventures at the Cat Scratch Club, I think I deserve to know why."_

"_You told my brother about that! Why didn't you pick another story?"_

"_I wanted to make sure that I had their full attention. It was the only story I knew that I could tell that would keep them distracted while you were gone. So, spill; where were you?"_

"_It's no big deal,"_ Kari replied with slight hesitation. She wanted to tell Mimi, but she knew it wasn't a good idea. _"It felt like something was wrong, so I took a walk to think about it. Then I realized that Calib wasn't who he claimed to be."_

"What are you two talking about?" Yolie asked. She wasn't very fluent in English, and had only caught a few words. There was something about a cat and a walk, that was about all she got.

"Nothing," Kari said quickly.

Yolie frowned. Why was she keeping secrets from her? Weren't they still friends? "I was just saying how embarrassed I was that I actually told some of the guys that I went to a strip club, that's all," Mimi explained.

"We're here," the computer whiz shouted. The digidestined lined up next to each other with their digimon at their feet. "Now we have to figure out how we get the water to part."

Gomamon jumped into the water. "It's nice!" he commented. "Come on in, guys."

"We aren't fish," Joe shouted to his digimon, walking closer to the edge of the water. Unfortunately, he tripped, and landed in the water. "Dammit, it's always me!"

The water around Joe rose to the sides and formed walls, leaving Joe sitting on the stairs. "All it took was someone getting in the water," Izzy said.

The group walked down the stairs to where Gennai's house was. "What happened?" Tai whispered, shocked by the sight in front of him. Gennai's house was lying in ruins, the roof had been blown off and the walls knocked down.

"Oh, it's only you," a voice said from a distance.

"Gennai?" Joe asked.

"That's right," Gennai said, making himself visible. He clapped his hands together and the team was blinded by a light that surrounded the house. When it died down, the house was found to be intact.

"It was only an illusion," Ken commented.

"Yep, I didn't want anyone to come down here looking for me."

Yolie's eyes widened. That was not the Gennai she had met. It was some ugly old man with squinty eyes and a beard. "What happened to you? You can't be the same Gennai I met!" She heard Davis fighting off laughter. "Shut up, Davis!"

"I know I'm not as young as when we last met, Yolie, but I assure you that I am the same Gennai. When Azulongmon planted his Seeds of Light to replace the Destiny Stones, I was revitalized and became younger. Now that they have matured, I am once again an old man. But enough about me, what brings all of you to my humble home?"

"We lost our crests, for starters," Tai replied.

"Well do you want me to tell you that you're an idiot for losing them, or would you like to tell me something that I don't know?"

"You already know!" Izzy said.

"Oh course I know, it's my job to know these things. Is there anything else you'd like to mention?"

Davis held up his hand and let the charm dangle. Gennai grabbed Davis' wrist and yanked him forward, examining the charm closely. "A Charm of Suduko…" he gasped. "Are you the only one who has found one?"

"Ken has one too," Davis said, trying to wrench himself free from the old man's grasp. "What are these things exactly, and why don't they always work?"

"You tried to use it for a selfish or unjustified purpose, didn't you?"

Davis hesitated. Was trying to impress the love of your life an unjustified purpose? "I don't think so…"

Gennai sighed and released Davis. "Come inside, everyone, and I will tell you everything I know about these charms."

The group followed Gennai into his house in silence. He offered them drinks and gave them a place to sit, his mind obviously focused on things other than his guests. "Where to start?" he wondered aloud.

"Who is this Suduko?" Izzy asked.

"Ah, yes, Suduko, he was a very fine man, indeed. He was actually one of the leaders of the congress."

"What congress?"

"I'm getting ahead of myself already," Gennai said with a sigh. "Many years ago, before any of you were in existence, even the digimon, a congress was called between the four worlds. A false world was created to maintain the balance, a world of water and beach."

"That's what became the Dark Ocean," Kari whispered.

"Um, yes, actually," Gennai agreed, confused as to how she knew that. "But before that, Suduko, the Light World representative, Daeo, the Dark World God, Azulongmon, as the Digital World's representative, and myself, representing the human world since no one with any unique powers was alive at the time, met in the Ocean to try to make peace. Daeo had been trying to corrupt the other worlds and rule over everything with his dark powers, but that would completely destroy the balance of the four worlds and ultimately destroy everything. Daeo agreed not to attack, but soon after our congress parted ways, he led an all out assault on the Light World. Suduko had no way to defend his world, so he created the Charms of Suduko and put his power into each of the twelve charms. We never gave them to you because they were made in such a rush and without careful planning that they were unstable, a last resort, if you will.

"After Suduko was killed by Daeo, the charms were hidden in the Digital World. Only the owners could call them out in a true emergency, if their will was strong enough. The defeat of the Light World offset the balance that led to your being needed. Daeo thought that he could use the Ocean to cross to the other worlds, so he changed it to the Dark Ocean. However, his plans backfired and he never made it to the Digital World or to Earth. His current whereabouts are unknown. But that is unimportant now. What does matter is the Shoku Spirit Evolution that you must master because it is all that is left. It is delicate and fickle, not always working if it has not been mastered. There's no way to even be sure that you all will receive the charms. If I were you, I would find a way out of the Digital World as soon as possible; you have little power at this point in time, and things may not change for the better."

"That's just wonderful!" Joe growled. "Not only are we going to be killed here, but we will have the opportunity to beg for our lives before they murder us! We are defenseless! I don't want to die here!" Joe dropped to his knees.

"Stop being so overdramatic," Sora hissed. "Like we really want or need you making things worse."

"Maybe we should find a way out of here," Cody suggested. "You guys didn't use computers or televisions the first time you came here, did you?"

"No, but we didn't have the option of returning home whenever we wanted. We were stuck here for as long as we were needed, with the exception of when we used the gate in Myotismon's Castle," Tai explained. _And I have been to Digiworld! I think I got there through…_ When was this voice going to go away? "I must be losing my mind," Tai whispered so that no one could here him.

"Maybe we should start looking for a way out," Agumon suggested. "I'm pretty sure that it won't be at Gennai's, though."

The group got the point and decided to leave right away. They didn't really want to spend anymore time with the pessimistic old man that had basically told them that they were fighting someone else's war now. They walked back up the stairs to the surface once more, more discouraged than they could remember ever being.

"What's that?" Davis asked suddenly, pointing up at what looked like a giant ice crystal.

The others had no idea, but they knew it couldn't be good when an artic breeze chilled their bodies and the crystal melted into the form of a digimon. She looked almost identical to Ladymiramon, except that her bodysuit was a baby blue and the slashes around her waist and ankle were dark blue. Her hair was white and her eyes were a solid grey color.

"Who is that?" Ken asked Izzy, who had opened up his laptop and was searching furiously through the Digimon Analyzer.

"I don't know; she isn't in here. She must have been created by someone."

"I am Biramon, the Artic Shami of Ladymiramon. I was made in her image. I want Peace and Serenity."

"If you want peace and serenity, then you're on the wrong side, lady. We fight for that, not Ladymiramon," Davis said.

"No, you ignorant twit, I want the digidestined bearers of Peace and Serenity."

Izzy looked around at the teens around him. The original eight digidestined were bearers of the attributes of their crests, as was Ken. Davis was Miracles; that left… "Yolie and Cody," Izzy whispered.

"Artic Ice Wing!" The feathers on Biramon's arms stuck straight out and shot icicles forward towards Yolie.

Hawkmon tackled Yolie just in time, narrowly avoiding the icicles himself. "Run!" Hawkmon advised.

Yolie scrambled to her feet and started running with the group. A new wave of ice crystals flew past them, freezing the trees ahead.

"Lightning Paw!" Gatomon attacked, trying to buy some time for the others to escape. She was hit by Biramon, who, being an ultimate, overpowered the small feline. Gatomon went flying into one of the frozen trees, causing it to smash.

One of the flying shards stopped midair in front of Yolie. Curious, she grabbed onto it and the ice melted away, leaving a charm and bracelet in her hands. "Hawkmon!" she shouted happily, showing her digimon partner the Serenity Charm of Suduko. It was a rectangle with the bottom side cut out, and an upside down 'v' in the center extending from the middle of the top side to the opening ends. Three wavy lines ran horizontally through the v, also.

Yolie tied the bracelet around her wrist, activating the charm. "Hawkmon transform to… Shoku Spirit Tutsinmon!" A large bird wrapped in clothe stood where Hawkmon had been. The wrapping was a pale red and his forehead and right arm were both exposed, revealing dark read flesh. The very sight of him made both Yolie and Biyomon gasp in admiration.

The mummy-like bird flew up into the air and landed in front of the others, readying himself for the confrontation with Biramon. "Artic Ice Wing!"

"Powder Force!" Tutsinmon countered, the bandaging lifting up in a sudden wind and releasing a whirlpool that sent the crystals harmlessly to the ground. He flew towards Biramon. "Raging Fist!" The arm that was not bandaged was used to initiate a brutal attack that overpowered Biramon.

Backing away slowly, Biramon raised her arms above her head. "Artic Missile!" Three large bullet shaped ice crystals flew out of the space between her hands. One hit a nearby tree, one landed on the ground, and the third hit Tutsinmon dead center in the chest. The wounded bird digimon did not get up.

"Now then, Peace and Serenity, unless you want me to kill all of your friends, I suggest you surrender now." Biramon's voice was raspy and mechanic, and fell unpleasantly unto the digidestineds' ears.

Cody looked uncertainly at the others. Surely his life wasn't as important as the others; he was only the quiet introvert with self-acceptance issues and a slight anger problem. "Take me, but leave the others," Cody pleaded.

Biramon looked surprised. "Your life is only half of what blocks me from obtaining my true power. Your cooperation is appreciated, but Serenity must die as well."

Cody shook his head. "Leave her and the others out of this!"

"Stop being a moron, Cody!" Tk shouted, amazed by the younger teens selflessness. Or stupidness, he couldn't decide. "We aren't going to let you or Yolie get hurt. Stop thinking like that!"

The ground in front of Cody began to tear open as an unidentifiable object burrowed itself out of the earth. Cody grabbed onto it as it shot up into the air. A circular charm with a line that went down, right, and then down again was attached to a black bracelet. "Is this my charm?" he asked in disbelief.

"Armadillomon transform to… Shoku Spirit Glitsomon!" The Peace Charm of Suduko enabled Armadillomon to become a large silver being that closely resembled Ankylomon. His body was made of metal and tougher than challenged even the toughest type of armor. His tail was short and covered in spikes and the circular hat that covered the top of his head and eyes also had spikes shooting out of it.

Glitsomon helped Tutsinmon to his feet. "Take that ice bitch out!" Yolie shouted. Tutsinmon nodded slightly.

Glitsomon and Tutsinmon linked arms and chanted in unison. "Serenely Peaceful Beam of Justice!" From their linked arms came a two powerful beam that were red and yellow in color. The connected beams wrapped around each other as they neared Biramon, hitting their target and releasing a blinding light.

Biramon was barely standing when the light died down. "Let's finish her off," Glitsmon suggested. He ran forward and head butted the humanoid digimon while Tutsinmon flew above and attacked while she was flying backwards from the impact.

"Serene Gaze!" The attack shot out of Tutsinmon's eyes and provided the final blow for Biramon. She screamed in agony as her body was ripped apart into tiny pieces of data.

The two digimon dedigivolved and collapsed in exhaustion. "You were fabulous!" Yolie shouted as she hugged Hawkmon tightly. Biyomon hopped up to Hawkmon and kissed his cheek, making the little hawk blush with intrigue.

Cody sat down beside Armadillomon. "How do you feel?"

"I'd love to take a nap right now," he replied, curling up into a ball.

"No way," Tai interrupted. "We can risk getting attacked again. We have to keep moving, for the time being, at least."

"But I'm so tired," Armadillomon complained.

"If you can dedigivolve again, I can carry you," Cody suggested.

Armadillomon nodded enthusiastically. He wasn't really sure how to dedigvolve, but he was willing to give it a try. He concentrated hard on becoming his in-training self. "I did it!" Upamon squeaked happily.

He fell asleep as soon as Cody picked him up and cradled him in his arms. "I guess it's safe to assume that we can't overexert them after they digivolve," Cody said.

"If you can get them to digivolve again, at all," Davis replied bitterly.

"Shut up Davis; you didn't even try to make Veemon digivolve!" Yolie yelled.

"Did you forget that it doesn't work?"

"Only because you're selfish and inconsiderate!"

Ken watched nervously as the two neared each other, arms flailing and voices rising. Truthfully, he hadn't even thought to make Wormmon digivolve. He was so used to having his D3 that the charm didn't even come to mind. He wondered if it would have worked if he had tried.

His attention went from the two arguing to Kari, who had put herself between them before they did anything they'd truly regret. "Will you two please stop arguing? Tai is right, we need to keep moving, it isn't safe here."

"He started it!" Yolie whined.

"I did not!"

Kari ignored the two and went over to Gatomon. She picked up her injured partner and started forward. Ken ran to catch up. "What aren't you saying?" he asked bluntly.

Kari turned to face him. She had forgotten that Ken sometimes had the ability to read her when she was being secretive. "This area feels tainted. Something bad is going to happen here and we shouldn't be here when it does."

(0)

"This damn clue doesn't make any sense! It is impossible to have an angel from all four worlds, there must be a mistake." Calib paced back and forth in frustration.

Daemon sat on his throne in the Dark Ocean and watched as his servant walked back and forth in front of him. Calib did seem to have a point, it was impossible to have an angel that was dark, light, human, and digital. Unless… "Of course! It's so simple!"

Calib stopped pacing and stared up at his master. "You've figured it out?"

"Yes, and the answer is so obvious! The angel was chosen by the Light people to be the protector of the Digital World's Light. That's two worlds. The angel is human; therefore the third world is Earth. Finally, she has been chosen by the Dark World God to be his queen."

"And the only one who fits that description is… Hikari!"

"Exactly," Daemon replied as he tried to keep his expression neutral.

"But how do we get it? The clue says that it is hidden within her heart-"

"So that's where we're going to get it."

Daemon stood and walked towards the black void that lined one of the walls of the throne room. He opened up a portal to the Digital World using the power of the darkened crests. "Come now, Calib, we have work to do."

Calib followed Daemon through the void and into the Digital World. They ended up near a lake, where a battle had very recently taken place. "I'm guessing that Ladymiramon went after Peace and Serenity," Calib said.

"Her affairs matter little right now. The digidestined are not far from here. Let's go."

(0)

Davis and Yolie decided to 'forget' about their little fight for the time being, but neither one would speak to the other. Tai led the way with Sora clinging to his arm. Matt was close behind them, constantly look back to see where Kari was. She had fallen to the back of the group, her thoughts focused on other things than walking. Yolie and Cody were right behind Matt and discussing the prospect of their digimon being partners since they shared an attack. Mimi, Joe, Izzy, and Tk were behind them, walking in silence. Davis and Ken were trying to figure out whether or not they'd be successful if they tried the Shoku Spirit Evolution again.

Gatomon had run to the front and jumped into Tai's arms, receiving a scoff from Sora in return. "What's up, Gato?"

"I'm worried about Kari, she's been acting strange today."

"Stranger than usual?" Tai joked. _And I have been to Digiworld…_

Sora fell into step with Matt but his attention had gone to Tai and Gatomon. He looked back again; Kari was walking even slower and the space between her and Ken and Davis. He was about to go back there and speak with her when Gatomon started speaking again.

"She's been having dreams about Daemon and the Dark Ocean. She didn't want me to tell anyone, though, so don't say anything."

"What kind of dreams?" Tai asked, concerned about his younger sister's wellbeing.

"She won't tell me the details, but they're about Daemon so they can't be good. And I think that the Digital World being off balanced is affecting her, too."

_I think I got there through…_ "Dammit, what do these stupid thoughts mean?" he hissed under his breath. "What has she told you?"

Gatomon looked at the older Kamiya curiously. Had he just mumbled under his breath? "Tai, what-"

"Kari!" The white feline was interrupted by Matt's scream.

The group turned around to find Kari with her back to the rest, facing Daemon and Calib. Daemon stalked up to her and thrust his tentacle arm through her chest. Her scream was stuck in her throat and her body was paralyzed.

Matt ran past the others right into a force field that Calib had put up. After rebounding backwards, Matt struck his fists against the barrier. Gatomon tried to claw through it but it was in vain.

"Where is it?" Daemon questioned aloud. He searched through the Chosen of Light's soul carefully.

Matt threw his body against the barrier repeatedly, and Tk, Ken, Davis, and Tai soon joined in to try and take it down. The combined effort weakened the force field and when Matt rammed the side of his body against it again, he broke through and landed on the dirt ground.

Gatomon jumped through the whole too before it closed up. She jumped at Daemon only to be knocked into the air by one of his tentacles. Matt tried to run at him also, but Calib put himself between them. "You'll have to get through me first," he said calmly.

Matt tried to tackle Calib but the Dark World creature had hundreds of years of combat training and easily overpowered the older of the blondes. He threw a punch that sent Matt to the ground and pressed his foot against Matt's throat. Matt tried to pry him off, but it proved more difficult than he thought.

"Aha! I found it!" Daemon slowly pulled his arm out; it was in far enough where it should have gone right through the other side of Kari's body, but he had entered her heart and soul to find the pendant. He pulled the shining pendant out of her heart and held it up triumphantly.

Calib was distracted enough so that Matt could escape from his grasp, but he grabbed Matt before he could get away. Daemon held the paralyzed girl close to him. "Don't worry my dear; the preparations will be complete soon. I will come back for you as soon as they are ready."

Daemon and Calib's bodies faded from the scene. Matt caught Kari as she fell backwards, still unable to move. The others ran forward as the barrier diminished and disappeared.

Holding onto her, Matt could feel her shaking in his arms. Joe noticed as well when he sat down and put his hand on her wrist to check her pulse. "We need to get a fire started," he said.

Izzy, Davis, and Ken were volunteered by Joe to get the firewood and their digimon accompanied them. After assuring the group that Kari was going to be fine, although he really didn't know in reality, Joe also suggested that they find a nearby place to set up camp.

(0)

The added warmth of a second blanket was enough to make Kari stir. The moon was the only source of light and she could barely see the person heading back to his spot around the fire to lie back down. "Matt?"

Matt's head shot up as he heard Kari's voice. "You're awake," he whispered. "We were worried.

Luckily for Kari, the lack of light made it so Matt couldn't see the sadness in her eyes. Daemon was coming for her, he had said so himself. Her time was limited. She forced those thoughts from her conscious mind and stood up, holding the second blanket that Matt had covered her with. She walked over and handed it to Matt.

"Keep it; you need it more than I do."

Kari shook her head as she sat down beside him. "I can't have two when you don't have any," she began.

"I don't want it," he whispered sternly.

"Too bad," she protested, "I don't either."

"Take it."

"No."

"Yes."

"I don't want your blanket; you're going to freeze."

"You need it more than I do," Matt retorted.

Kari got up and went back to her spot. After grabbing her blanket, she went back to Matt. "The only thing to do is share them, I guess." She threw both blankets over them before lying down.

Matt wasn't sure if he had heard properly. Share? As in sleep next to each other under the same blankets? Had he died and gone to heaven?

Matt pulled the blanket up to her shoulders before lying down as well. There really was no point in arguing. He draped his arm around her side and tried to use his body to warm her as he felt that she was still shaking.

He fell asleep with a small smile resting on his lips.

The observer wasn't smiling.

It was Tk's turn to watch over the group, and he had witnessed the whole scene. How could his brother betray him like that when he knew exactly how he felt about Kari? Tk slammed his fist against the tree he was leaning against and instantly covered his mouth to keep from screaming in pain.

Seeing blood drip from the side of his palm, Tk decided to investigate exactly what he had hit. A small piece of something was sticking out of the bark where he had struck the tree.

It was the edge of a charm. Tk pulled it out and found that he was holding the Hope Charm of Suduko. The charm was exactly like the Crest of Hope; a circle with rays shooting out of it above a rectangle with the top cut into.

The moon light didn't provide sufficient light for Tk to see that his crest was discolored.

(0)

Author's Note: Check out my profile for info on upcoming fics.

Yes, I suck at creating new digimon, terribly sorry.

Biramon called herself a Shami, that's just basically a word I made up. She's a replica that has been altered to be more individual.

To the Aubrey: You had two very good guesses, but it isn't the ex-boyfriend (Kyle) or any enemy from the series. Both the Adventure series and 02 had quite a lot of gaps in them. (Dark Undersea Master being a perfect example.) The mystery enemy is an OC, but I've worked him in so that he would have been in the series, if there weren't all the gaps, you'll see what I mean in a while. I still haven't given him away, and I've got sixteen chapters planned out. So I'm going to torture everyone for a while, (not really, but yeah).

Sometime soon I'm going to go back and fix all my little grammar errors and word mix-ups. Chapter one is already fixed, so that's one down.

Does anyone actually read the author's note(s)?

It has been a while since I've updated, but I almost have the story all planned out. AP are going on, and finals aren't far away. Should I make this my main fic? Or should Revenge of the Kaiser or Adeliea be?

Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and who's about to review.

Jillie062


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